.:     .;,;..,.:;..;.,, ';V.;:\  „;.,'.« 


nllllllH   II    I i 


<?v<v> 


SCIENCE 


6>*3 


l     n 


t  k 


IT  y.   ,L^_ 


}4^ 


THE    LIBRARY 


OF 


CONTEMPORARY    SCIENCE. 


PROSPECTUS. 


Some  degree  of  truth  has  been  admitted  In  the  charge  not 
unfrequently  brought  against  the  English,  that  they  are  assiduous 
rather  than  solid  readers.  They  give  themselves  too  much  to 
the  lighter  forms  of  literature.  Technical  Science  is  almost  ex- 
clusively restricted  to  its  professed  votaries,  and,  but  for  some 
of  the  Quarterlies  and  Monthlies,  very  little  solid  matter  would 
come  within  the  reach  of  the  general  public. 

But  the  circulation  enjoyed  by  many  of  these  very  periodicals, 
and  the  increase  of  the  scientific  journals,  may  he  taken  for 
sufficient  proof  that  a  taste  for  more  serious  subjects  of  study  is 
now  growing.  [ndeed  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  if 
trictly  scientific  subjects  are  not  more  universally  cultivated,  it 
is  mainly  they  are  not  rendered  more  accessible  to  bhe 

people.      Such  themes    are  treated  either  too  elaborately,   or  in 

Forbidding  a  style,  or  else  brought  out  in  too  costly  a  form 
to  be  easily  available  to  .ill  classes. 

'Ih"  splendid  conquests  of  Modern  Science  in    ■.  try  branch 


of  human  knowledge  are  moreover,  as  a  rule,  scattered  over  a 
multiplicity  of  monographs,  essays,  memoirs,  and  special  works  of 
all  sorts.  Except  in  the  Encyclopaedias,  their  varied  results  are 
nowhere  to  be  found,  so  to  say,  under  one  cover,  and  even  in 
these  unwieldy  compilations  they  are  necessarily  handled  more 
summarily  than  is  always  desirable. 

"With  the  view  of  remedying  this  manifold  and  increasing 
inconvenience,  we  are  glad  to  be  able  to  take  advantage  of  a 
comprehensive  project  recently  set  on  foot  in  France,  emphatically 
the  land  of  Popular  Science.  The  well-known  publishers,  MM. 
Keinwald  &  Co.,  have  made  satisfactory  arrangements  with  some 
of  the  leading  savants  of  that  country  to  supply  an  exhaustive 
3  of  works  on  each  and  all  of  the  sciences  of  the  daj',  treated 
in  a  style  at  once  lucid,  popular,  and  strictly  methodic. 

The  names  of  MM.  P.  Eroca,  Secretary  of  the  Societe 
d' Anthropologic ;  Ch.  Martins,  Montpellier  University ;  C.  Vogt, 
University  of  Geneva ;  G.  de  Mortillet,  Museum  of  Saint  Ger- 
main ;  A.  Guillemin,  author  of  "  Ciel "  and  "  Phenomenes  de  la 
Physique;"  A.  Hovelacque,  editor  of  the  "  Eevue  de  Linguis- 
tique;"  Dr.  Dally,  Dr.  Letourneau,  and  many  others,  whose  co- 
operation has  already  been  secured,  are  a  guarantee  that  their 
respective  subjects  will  receive  thorough  treatment,  and  will  in  all 
cases  be  written  up  to  the  very  latest  discoveries,  and  kept  in 
every  respect  fully  abreast  of  the  times. 

We  have,  on  our  part,  been  fortunate  in  making  such  further 
arrangements  with  some  of  the  best  writers  and  recognised 
authorities  here,  as  will  enable  us  to  present  the  series  in  a 
thoroughly  English  dress  to  the  reading  public  of  this  country. 
Tn  so  doing  we  feel  convinced  that  we  are  taking  the  best  means 
of  supplying  a  want  that  has  long  been  deeply  felt. 

The   volumes  in  actual  course  of  execution,  or  contemplated, 


will  embrace  sucli  subjects  as  :  Anthropology,  Biology,  Science- 
of  Language,  Comparative  Mythology,  Astronomy,  Prehistoric 
Archaeology,  Ethnography,  Geology,  Hygiene,  Political  Economy, 
Physical  and  Commercial  Geography,  Philosoplrv,  Architecture, 
Chemistry,  Education,  General  Anatomy,  Zoology,  Botany, 
Meteorology,  History,  Finance,  Mechanics,  Statistics,  &c.   &c. 

All  the  volumes,  while  complete  and  so  far  independent  in 
themselves,  will  be  of  uniform  appearance,  slightly  varying, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  subject,  in  bulk  and  in  price. 

The  present  volume,  on  the  Science  of  Language,  with  which 
the  English  series  is  introduced,  and  which  will  be  immp.din.tely 
followed  by  others  on  Biology  and  Anthropology,  may  be 
accepted  as  a  fair  sample  of  the  style  and  execution  of  these 
works. 

"When  finished  they  will  form  a  complete  collection  op 
standard  works  op  reference  on  all  the  physical  and  mental 
sciences,  thus  fully  justifying  the  general  title  chosen  for  the 
scries — "  Library  op  Contemporary  Science." 


CHAPMAN  AND    HALL. 


193,  Piccadilly,  W., 

Hay  loth,  1877. 


LIBRARY  OF   CONTEMPORARY  SCIENCE. 


Ex  Libris 
C.  K.  OGDEN 

THE 


SCIENCE  OF  LANGUAGE 


LINGUISTICS,  PHILOLOGY,  ETYMOLOGY. 


ABEL    HOVELACQUE. 


TRANSLATED    BY 

A.   H.  KEANE,   B.A., 

AUTHOR  OF 
1  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE, "  "  GERMAN  INFLEXION."  "FRENCH  ACCENTS.' 


X'onboit  : 

CHAPMAN    AM)    BALL,   L93,  PICCADILLY. 

1877. 


CHARLES   DICKENS    AND   EVANS, 
CRYSTAL   PAT.ACE    PRESS. 


T 


■      tARY 

LMvr';-  .  ,  of  California' 

SAM  A  BARBARA 


THE   AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


To  the  last  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  reserved  the 
privilege  of  giving  hirth  to  the  true  methods  of  scientific  research. 
The  undertaking  was  immense;  but  the  men  by  whom  it  was 
attempted  were  fully  equal  to  the  task.  The  Encyclopedists  led 
the  way  in  the  new  era  by  introducing  the  modern  system  of 
experimental  science. 

The  methodic  spirit  recast  the  processes  of  research  and  of 
instruction  hitherto  pursued,  while  mathematics,  chemistry,  the 
physical  sciences,  broke  at  last,  once  for  all,  with  metaphysics. 

The  Science  of  Language,  to  which  this  volume  is  devoted. 
is  neither  the  least  important  nor  the  Leasl  interesting  of  con- 
temporary sciences.  Our  purpose  is  to  show  its  real  place  in 
the  natural  history  of  man.  And  at  the  very  outset  we  shall 
Lave-  to  define  its  scope  and  nature.  The  most  delicate  questions 
. . f  are  daily  discussed  and  solved  by  persons  ignoranl 

alike  of  ite  objecl  and  of  it-  method.  This,  however,  is  hut 
the  general  fate  of  all  the  natural  sciences.  The  lack  of  deep 
3tudy,  based  on  experience,  is  supplied  by  assertions  of  a  purely 
timental  character.  It  is  thus  that  we  constantly  hear  people 
boldly  proclaiming  themselves  polygenista  or  monogenists,  friends 


vi  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

or  foes  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  without  having  ever  set  foot 
in  an  anthropological  museum. 

We  shall  not  seek  to  shirk  the  question  of  the  origin  of 
speech,  which  is  in  itself  a  purely  anthropological  one.  With- 
out troubling  ourselves  with  the  fancies  it  has  given  rise  to, 
we  shall  treat  it  solely  on  the  standpoint  of  natural  history — 
that  is  to  say,  of  anatomy  and  physiology.  Articulate  speech 
is  a  natural  fact,  subject,  like  all  others,  to  free  and  unpre- 
judiced inquiry ;  hence  there  is  nothing  rash  in  attempting  to 
broach  the  question  of  its  origin.  To  put  it  aside  under  the 
pretext  that  all  inquiry  into  "first  origins"  must  be  proscribed, 
is  of  itself  an  admission  of  the  possibility  of  these  hrst  causes. 
Avhich  mathematics  and  chemistry  themselves  have  amply  vindi- 
cated. 

By  the  side  of  questions  purely  philological,  we  have  here 
and  there,  though  sparingly,  introduced  certain  linguistic  matters 
directly  connected  with  them.  We  have  more  readily  discussed 
some  points  of  linguistic  ethnography,  though  in  a  very  incom- 
plete manner,  with  the  intention  of  returning  to  the  subject. 
Even  the  strictly  philological  questions  themselves,  the  nature 
and  aim  of  this  series  has  compelled  us  to  treat  in  a  very  cursory 
way,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  reader  will  make  allowance 
for  this  difficulty. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  lie  permitted  to  express  our  thanks 
to  MM.  Picot  and  Vinson  for  then-  co-operation  in  the  work. 
To  them  we  are  much  indebted  for  notes,  information,  and.  above 
all,  for  their  safe  and  methodical  suggestions. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


Casting  about  for  a  suitable  title  to  his  "  Introduction  a  l'Etude 
de  la  Science  du  Langage,"  Domenico  Pozzi  asks  almost  in 
despair:  "How,  then,  shall  we  name  it!  Linguistics  with  many 
French  writers,  or  G-lottics  and  <  llottology  with  some  Germans'?" 
And  after,  on  various  grounds,  rejecting  these  and  other  still 
more  incongruous  terms,  he  ends  by  adopting  the  expression, 
•■  Science  of  Language."  Vet  it  is  obvious  that,  after  all,  this 
is  rather  an  explanation  of  a  title  than  a  title  in  the  strict 
5ense  thai  botany  or  zoology  are  titles.  It  tells  us  in  so  many 
wli.it  this  particular  branch  of  knowledge  is,  describing 
it  as  a  science,  dealing  with  language  as  Its  subject  matter. 
Still  the  expression  has  been  sanctioned  by  the  authority  of 
some  great  names,  and  is,  on  the  whole,  the  best  thai  has  been 
yet  suggested.  In  the  absence  of  any  better  equivalent  for  the 
German  term  "  Sprachwissenschaft,"  it  will  probably  continue  to 
hold  its  -round,  and  has  been  accordingly  adopted  as  the  title 
of  this  English  edition  of  M.  Hovelacque's  work.  It  has  the 
advantage  of  being  sufficiently  general  without  being  vague, 
and  of  being  perfectly  intelligible  without  committing  us  to  any 
i  no  di'jhi  consideration  in  the  present  state  of 
tli'- 


viii  TRANSLATOR'S   PREFACE. 

The  distinguished  Author  belongs  to  the  advanced  school  of 
anthropologists,  and  as  such,  of  course,  treats  language  as  strictly 
and  exclusively  a  physical  science.  Many  of  his  views  will, 
doubtless,  fail  to  meet  with  universal  acceptance,  while  it  must 
be  confessed  that  some  of  his  conclusions  are  utterly  unwarranted, 
at  least  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  his  argument  for  the  original  plurality  of  the 
human  race,  based  upon  the  assumed  original  plurality  of  human 
speech.  (Ch.  vi.  §  2,  pp.  304-7.)  In  the  actual  state  of  the 
science,  philology  can  no  more  prove  the  primeval  diversity  than 
it  can  the  primeval  unity  of  articrdate  speech  itself ;  and  until 
this  point  is  settled,  it  can  tell  us  absolutely  nothing  about  tin; 
original  unity  or  plurality  of  mankind. 

But,  although  this  and  one  or  two  collateral  questions  are 
really  foreign  t<  ■  the  subject,  the  Translator  did  not  on  that 
account  consider  himself  justified  in  tampering  with  the  text. 
The  preferable  course  in  all  such  cases  seemed  to  be  to  let  the 
Author  set  forth  his  own  views  in  his  own  way,  and  then,  where 
desirable,  point  out  their  fallacies,  and  warn  the  reader  against 
their  illogical  nature.  All  such  comments,  as  well  as  all  other 
supplementary  matter,  for  which  the  Translator  alone  is  re- 
sponsible, will  he  found  either  in  special  notes  or  interspersed. 
in  square  am!   round  brackets,  throughout  the  work. 

With  the  view  of  rendering  it,  as  far  as  possible,  a  complete 
handbook  of  the  subject,  he  has  also  supplied  an  Appendix, 
illustrated  by  a  philological  map,  presenting,  so  to  say,  a  birdseye 
view  of  all  known  languages,  living  and  dead,  and  thus  forming 
a  clearly  tabulated   summary  of  it<  varied  contents. 

Some  thought  has  also  been  given  to  the  important  matter  of 
the  spelling  of  foreign  names.     It  would,  of  course,  be  hopeless 


TRANSLATOR'S   PEEFACE.  ix 

to  look   for  uniformity  amidst   the   chaos   at   present    prevailing 
amongst   English   writers.      But   we    may   still   aim   at    least   at 
consistency,    and    avoid    the    absurdities    of    those    who    at    one 
moment   somewhat    ostentatiously  write    Kimon   for   Cimon,   and 
the  very  next  give  us  Thucydides  for  Thukydides.     Besides  this 
modest  virtue  of   consistency,  the  Translator  has  further  endea- 
voured to  be  correct,  in  all  cases  giving  preference  to  what  he 
considered  the  better  forms,  where  two  or  more  were  in  current 
use.     Thus   it   is   that   he    writes   Kafir,    not    Kaffir,  the  /  not 
being  doubled  in  the  Arabic  Jf  =  Kafir  =  infidel.     So  also  u  long- 
everywhere  supersedes  the  clumsy  oo  and  the  Trench  ou,  whence 
Rumanian,  Beluch,   Bantu,   &c,   and   not   Roumanian,    BeloocJi, 
Bantou,  &C.      Diacritical  marks,  however,  have  been  very  sparingly 
used,  being  always  cumbersome  and  mostly  needless.     Thus  there 
is  no  danger  that   anyone  will  give  the   same   sound  to  the  first 
syllable  of  Rumanian    that    he  does  to  the   English  word   rum, 
although  the  u  does   nol  beaT  the  usual  mark  of  the  long  vowel 
.,;.      On    the    other    hand,    eccentricities   arc    avoided,    such 
[ties,  for  instance,  as  would  lead  us  to  write  the  strictly 
eorreel  Tchalifah  and  Mrdicansarde  for  our  old  friends  calif  and 
caravansary.  8. 

It  remain--  to  be  mentioned  that,  though  based  on  the  firsl 
edition  of  the  original,  this  translation  has  been  carefully  corn- 
el with  the  proofs  of  the  second  now  being  issued  All 
improvements  and  important  additions  have  been  embodied  in 
the  text,  which  it  is  boped  will  thus  be  found  to  preseni  a 
faithful  picture  of  the  present  state  of  philolo  dies. 

A.   li.   K. 
1 1.  Aotoih  Tj  bba<  i  ,  N'.W., 


CONTENTS. 


The  Author's  Preface       v 

Translator's  Preface        vii 

Chapter  I. — Linguistics — Philology — Etymology           ...          ...          ...  1 

§1.  Difference  between  Linguistics  and  Philology        ...  1 

§  2.  The  Life  of  Languages           8 

§3.  Linguistics  and  Philology  mutually  useful  to  each 

other 10 

§4.  The  Polyglot     11 

§  5.  The  Dangers  of  Etymology    ...         ...         ...         ...  13 

Chapter  II. --The  Faculty  of    Articulate  Speech — Its  Locality  and 

importance  in  Natural  History          ...         ...         ...  17 


Chapter  III. — First    Form    of    Speed      Monosyllabic    or    Isolating 

Languages         ...  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  31 

;  1.  Chinese :;  l 

'  1.  Annamese         ...  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  11 

:;.  Siamese  or  Thai  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  12 

§  I.  Burmao ...         ...  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  12 

§5.  Tibetan  ...         ...  ...  IS 


xii  ■  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter  IV. — Sceoiid  Form  of  Speech — Agglutination — The  Agglu- 
tinating Languages  ...         ...          ...         ...         ...  44 

§1.  What  is  Agglutination  ?           45 

§2.  South  African  Languages       ...         ...          ...         ...  47 

(1)  Hottentot            47 

(2)  Bushman  Dialects          ...          ...          ...          ...  51 

§3.  Languages  of  the  African  Negroes   ...         ...          ...  51 

(1)  Wolof       52 

(2)  Mancle  group       ...          ...          ...          ...          ...  56 

(3)  Felup  group        56 

(4)  Sonra'i      ...          ...          ...          ...          ...          ...  56 

(5)  Hausa,  or  Hawsa            ...          ...          ...          ...  56 

(6)  Bornu  group       ...          ...         ...          ...          ...  5S 

(7)  Kruh  group         58 

(8)  Ewe,  or  Ife  group           ...          ...          ...          ...  58 

§  4.  Bantu,  or  Kafir  Family            ...          ...          ...          ...  59 

§  5.  The  Fuhi  group             ...          ...          ...          ...          ...  64 

§  6.  The  Niibian  Languages           ...          66 

§ 7.  Languages  of  the  Negritos     ...          ...          ...          ...  66 

§8.  Languages  of  the  Papuas        ...          ...          ...          ...  66 

§  9.  Australian  Languages ...          ...          ...          ...          ...  67 

§  10.  The  Malayo-Polynesian  Idioms          ...          ...          ...  68 

§11.  Japanese            ...          ...          ...          ...          ...          ...  72 

§12.  Corean ...         76 

§13.  The  Dra vidian  Tongue.--            77 

§14.  The  Fmno-Tataric,  or  Uralo-Altaic  Languages       ...  88 

§15.  Basque 10f> 

§16.  The  American  Languages       ...          ...          ...          ...  123 

§17.  The  Sub-Arctic  Languages     ...          ...          ...          ...  135 

§18.  Languages  of  the  Caucasus    ...          ...          ...          ...  136 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  IV.  (continued). 

§  19.  On  some  little  known  idioms   classified   with   the 
Agglutinating  Languages    ... 

(1)  Sinhalese,  or  Elu 

(2)  Munda      

(3)  Brahui      

(4)  The  Pretended  Scythian  Language 

(5)  The  Language  of  the  Second  Column  of  the 

Cuneiform  Inscriptions 

(6)  The   so-called   Sumerian    or  Accadian   Lan 

gnage  

§20.  The  Theory  of  the  Turanian  Languages 


137 
137 
138 
138 
138 

139 

141 
114 


Chapter  Y. — Third  Form  of  Speech — Iuflection 
§1.  What  is  Inflection  ?     ... 
§  2.  Aryan  and  Semitic  Inflection 
A.  The  Semitic  Lan^,, 


146 
147 
148 
151 


§  3.  The  Semite  and  the  Semitic  Languages  collectively  151 

■j  Arameo- Assyrian  group  ...  ...  ...  ...  155 

(1)  Chaldee  and  Syriac        ...  ...  ...  ...  155 

(2)  Assyrian  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  157 

'.j.  The  Canaanj  Lc  group...         ...         ...         ...         ...  160 

160 

(2j  Phoenician  161 

§0.  Tl  1G6 

(1)  Arabic      167 

(2)  I.  '  rabia  and  Abj  i    inia  ...  170 

Theix  Primeval 
...         ...  172 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  V.  {emit 
B. 

'?iwecZ). 
The  Hamitic  Languages 

PAGE 

..     174 

§1- 

The  Egyptian  group     ... 

..     175 

§2. 

The  Libyan  group 

..     179 

§3. 

The  Ethiopian  group    ... 

..     180 

c. 

The  Aryan  Languages... 

..     181 

§1. 

The  Common  Aryan  mother-tongue  ... 

..     182 

§2. 

The  Indie  branch 

..     189 

(1)   The  Ancient  Hindu  Languages 

..     180 

(2)  Modern  Indian  Languages 

..     193 

(3)  Gipsy  Dialects    ... 

..     195 

§3. 

The  Iranic  branch 

...     196 

(1)  Zend         

...     197 

(2)   Old  Persian         

..     200 

(3)  Armenian 

..     202 

(4)   Huzvaresh 

...     203 

(5)   Parsi 

...     205 

(6)   Persian     ... 

...     206 

(7)   Ossetian,  Kurdic,  Belilchi,  Afghan,  &c. 

...     207 

§4, 

The  Hellenic  branch    ... 

..     208 

§5- 

The  Italic  branch 

..     217 

(1)   Primitive  Italic  Languages 

..     218 

(2)  The  Neo-Latin  Languages 

..     227 

(a)  French 

..     233 

(/3)  Provencal... 

..     236 

(y)   Italian 

..     237 

(§)  Ladin        

..     238 

(e)    Spanish     ... 

..     239 

(£)   Portuguese 

..     210 

(?;)   Rumanian 

..     240 

CONTENTS. 
Chapter  V.  [continued). 

§6.  The  Keltic  Languages... 
§  7.  The  Teutonic  Tongues 

(1)  Gothic      

(2)  The  Norse  Tongues 

(3)  The  Low  German  group 

(4)  The  High  German  group 
§8.  The  Slavonic  Lauguages 
§  9.  The  Lettic  group 

(1)  Lithuanian 

(2)  Lettish 

(3)  Old  Prussian        

§  10.  Unclassified  Aryan  Tongues  . . . 

(1)  Etruscan... 

(2)  Dacian 

(3)  The  Aryan  Languages  of  Asia  Minor... 

(4)  The  so-called  "  Scythic  "  Aryan  Tongues 

(5)  Albanian... 
§11.  On  the  ramification  of  the  Common  Aryan  Speech, 

;  on  its  primitive  home  ... 


PAGE 
212 

252 

254 
255 
257 
264 
268 
2S5 
2S5 
28S 
288 
289 
2S0 
291 
292 
293 
293 

291 


(  .  !      0]  ginal   Plurality  of  Speech,   and   Transmutation   of 

Linguistic  Systems 

§1.  How  to  re&  nistic  Affinities         

j2.  Original   plurality  of    Linguistic  groups  and  con- 

iof 
/:;.   []  Language  and  Race  maj  cease 

in  be  convi 
§  l.  The  Permutation  of  S]  i 


302 
302 

301 

307 

308 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  LANGUAGE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LINGUISTICS — PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY. 

§  1. — Difference  between  Linguistics  and  Philology* 

It  is  seldom  that  in  ordinary  language,  or  even  in  scientific  works, 
any  distinction  is  observed  between  the  two  terms  linguistics  and 
philology.  They  are  usually  employed  one  for  the  other,  almost 
at  haphazard,  and  according  to  the  more  or  less  urgent  euphonic 
requirements  of  a  phrase  or  a  sentence.  The  best  writers,  and  even 
scientific  men  themselves,  constantly  confuse  them ;  too  often  treat- 
ing philology  and  linguistics  as  nothing  more  than  the  study  of 
etymologies,  and  describing  those  engaged  in  such  pursuits  as 
philologists  or  linguists  indifferently.      The  inquiry  into  the  pos- 

*  In  what  follows,  I  ho  tonus  lijviv.istic*  and  ;>/m7(, /.,./;/,  owing  to  the  dif- 
ferent usage  of  tho  two  languages,  have  necessarily  changed  sides.  Philology 
and.  comparative  philology,  according  to  tho  English  practice,  now  mean 
what  is  more  comprehensively  understood  by  tho  Scienco  of  Language, 
linguistics  being  moro  usually  restricted  to  tho  critical  study  of  a  given 
language.  Bui  the  moro  correct  French  writers  uso  la  philologie  in  this 
sense  of  linguistics,  and  la  linguistique  in  tho  senso  of  tho  Scienco  of  Lan- 
iv.  terms  thus  forming  respectively  tho  French  and  the 
English  titles  of  the  present  work.  It  may  bo  added  that  in  this  translal  ion 
arms  Science  of  Language,  Philology,  and  Comparative  Philology,  are 
aged  as  practically  synonymous.  In  the  words  of  Schleicher,  quoted  further 
on,  "philology  is  nothing  unless  comparative." — Kote  by  Tram   '"/   »'. 

i; 


2  LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.         [Chap.  i. 

sible  relationship  of  two  Australian  idioms,  or  the  revision  of  a 
text  of  Plautus,  would  be  spoken  of  by  them  either  as  a  linguistic 
or  philological  work  indistinctly. 

But  this  is  very  far  from  being  the  case,  and  we  must  at  the 
outset  endeavour  to  combat  such  a  serious  error. 

Philology  is  a  natural,  linguistics  an  historical  science. 

In  his  dictionary  of  the  French  language,  M.  Littre,  using  the 
term  linguistique  in  the  sense  now  usually  given  by  English 
writers  to  the  word  philology,  describes  it  as  "the  study  of  lan- 
guages, considered  in  their  principles,  their  relations,  and  as  an 
involuntary  product  of  the  mind  of  man."  In  spite  of  all  its 
vagueness,  this  definition  possesses  the  great  merit  of  not  being 
quite  so  easily  applicable  to  the  word  linguistics  (in  the  English 
sense).  On  the  other  hand,  to  the  term  philology — by  it  partly 
understanding  linguistics — he  assigns  three  different  meanings  : 
1st,  A  kind  of  general  learning,  respecting  belles-lettres,  languages, 
criticism,  &c. ;  2nd,  More  definitely,  the  study  and  knowledge  of  a 
language  in  so  far  as  it  is  the  instrument  or  medium  of  literature ; 
3rd,  Comparative  philology,  a  study  applied  to  several  languages, 
which  are  explained  by  being  mutually  compared  with  each  other. 

Of  these  three  definitions  the  first  two  are  correct,  but  the  third 
can  scarcely  be  accepted,  according  to  the  present  use  of  the  term 
by  Erench  writers.  The  author  justly  distinguishes  between 
philology,  properly  so-called,  and  linguistics ;  but,  without  suffi- 
cient reason,  sanctions  the  unjustifiable  practice  which  confuses 
the  science  of  comparative  philology  with  mere  linguistics. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  how,  by  becoming  comparative,  the 
one  coidd  be  changed  to  the  other.  Comparative  physiology  em- 
bracing, for  instance,  the  relations  of  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms,  does  not  surely  cease  to  be  physiology.  And  so  with 
the  comparative  anatomy  of  the  various  races  of  mankind,  or  even 
of  man  and  the  other  primates,  which  still  claims  the  title  of 
anatomy.  It  is  clearly  the  same  with  philology,  which  by  becoming 
comparative  cannot  by  any  means  thereby  forfeit  its  true  and 
proper  designation. 

Kollin   defined   linguists   as  "those  who  have  studied  the  old 


Chap,  i.]         LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.  3 

writers  for  the  purpose  of  examining,  correcting,  explaining,  and 
expounding  them,"  and  this  definition  is  still  largely  applicable. 
It  corresponds,  as  we  have  seen,  to  M.  Littre's  two  first  meanings 
of  philology;  and  in  truth,  the  province  of  the  linguist  is  the 
critical  study  of  literature  from  the  standpoint  of  archaeology,  art, 
and  mythology ;  the  inquiry  into  the  history  of  languages,  and 
incidentally  into  their  geographical  extension ;  the  discovery  of  the 
elements  they  have  mutually  borrowed  from  each  other  during  the 
course  of  ages ;  the  restoration  and  the  correction  of  texts. 

This  is  on  the  face  of  it  an  historical  science,  and  an  important 
branch  of  learning.  Before  the  modern  development  of  the  natural 
sciences,  languages  could  be  regarded  only  from  this  historical  point 
— that  is  to  say,  linguistics  necessarily  long  preceded  philolophy. 

Strictly  speaking,  linguistics  are  concerned  with  one  language 
only.  This  it  criticises,  interprets  its  records,  improves  extant 
texts,  according  to  the  data  and  materials  furnished  by  this  one 
language  itself.  When  this  study  becomes  extended  to  two  dif- 
ferent languages,  or  to  several  branches  of  the  same  language,  it 
becomes  so  far  comparative.  Thus  what  we  understand  by  classical 
linguistics  are  most  commonly  comparative  studies,  because  occu- 
pied  with  both  Greek  and  Latin  texts.  In  the  same  way,  Romance, 
Teutonic,  and  Slavonic  linguistics  are  all  comparative.  They  will 
.  for  instance,  of  the  influence  exercised  by  the  Euphuists  of 
tie-  sixteenth  century  on  the  current  speech  of  succeeding  gene- 
rations; nf  tie-  pail  played  by  Luther's  version  of  the  Bible  in  the 
formation  of  New  High  German;  of  the  westward  spread  of  the 
Slavonic  tongues  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  of  their  subsequent 
retirement  towards  the'  Last. 

Equally  comparative  are  "oriental  linguistics,"  as  they  are  called, 

and  which  embrace  three  languages  scientifically  distinct— Persian, 

Arabic,  and  Turkish.     Lastly,  Buddhism  in  India  and  the  extreme 

;  ■■  -  given  birth  toyel  another  branch  of  comparative  linguistics. 

We  are   indebted   more   particularly   to   Schleicher,*  Curtius,t 

*  "  Dio  deutscln  Bprache,"  [ntrodnotion,  chap.  vi. 
f  "Philologie  and  SpraohwieBeneohaft." 


4  LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.         [Chap.  i. 

Kuhn,  Ohavee,*  and  Spiegel,  +  for  this  important  distinction  be- 
tween the  two  sciences  of  linguistics  and  philology.  All  these 
writers  agree  on  the  cardinal  point — that  the  one  belongs  to  the 
province  of  historic  knowledge,  and  the  other  to  that  of  the  natural 
sciences. 

The  Science  of  Language,  or  Phdology,  may  be  defined :  The 
study  of  the  constituent  elements  of  articulate  speech,  and  of  the 
various  forms  by  which  these  elements  are  or  may  be  affected.  In 
other  words,  philology  is  the  two-fold  study  of  the  phonetics  and 
of  the  structure  of  languages. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  philology  trenches  on  physiology  by  the 
study  of  the  phonetic  material  of  languages — that  is,  of  then- 
sounds.  The  first  care  of  the  phdologist  is  to  arrange  the  vowels 
and  the  consonants  of  the  languages  he  is  studying,  and  to  establish 
the  laws  of  their  changes  or  modifications,  and  the  discovery  of 
these  laws  will  be  all  the  more  easy  for  him  according  to  his 
acquaintance  with  the  action  of  the  vocal  organs. 

Vowels  and  consonants  make  up  the  fundamental  elements  of 
language.  There  are  others  growing  out  of  these,  which  are  at 
times,  strictly  speaking,  described  as  maple  elements,  although 
often  in  fact  already  compound;  these  are  the  monosyllables 
usually  called  roots. 

Inquiry  will  sIioav  us  that  these  monosyllables  he  at  the  bottom 
of  all  philological  systems.  Sometimes  they  are  formed  by  one 
pure  element,  that  is  by  a  single  vowel :  i  =  to  go  in  the  Aryan 
languages.  Sometimes  they  are  formed  by  the  union  of  several 
fundamental  elements :  ta  corresponding  in  Chinese  to  the  various 
conceptions  of  greatness.  But  their  meaning  must  always  be 
very  general,  never  being  limited  by  any  consideration  of  gender, 
case,  number,  person,  time,  or  mood. 

The  study  of  these  elements  forms,  as  stated,  one  of  the  first 
cares  of  the  philologist.  To  this  study  succeeds  the  examination 
of  the  forms  by  which  such  elements  are  or  may  be  affected.     This 

*  "  Bulletins  de  la  Societe  d'Anthi-opologie  de  Paris,"  1862,  p.  198. 
f    "  Die  traditiouelle  Literatur  der  Parsen,"  p.  48. 


Chap,  l]         LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.  5 

new  study  receives  the  name  of  morphology.  We  shall  treat 
farther  on  of  the  several  morphological  varieties  in  language,  that 
is  of  the  different  kinds  of  structure  that  languages  may  present.  It 
will  then  be  seen  that  idioms  classified  in  this  relation  in  one  and 
the  same  group,  as  for  instance  the  agglutinating  languages,  may 
possibly  be  otherwise,  and,  in  respect  of  their  constituent  elements, 
entirely  strangers  to  each  other.  Thus  the  Aryan  and  the  Semitic 
languages,  whose  roots  are  totally  different  and  incapable  of  being 
identified,  are  both  found  in  the  same  morphological  division;  so 
also  with  Turkish,  Bascpie,  Japanese,  and  Tamil,  which  present  tin- 
same  general  structure,  but  the  roots  of  which  are  so  essentially 
dift'erent  that  it  becomes  impossible  to  reduce  them  to  one  common 
stock  or  origin. 

This  subject  will  claim  all  due  attention  in  its  proper  place. 
Meanwhile  our  object  is  thoroughly  to  establish  the  cardinal  fact 
that  philology  belongs  to  the  group  of  natural  sciences,  and  that  to 
classify  it  with  the  historical  sciences  we  must  ignore  at  once  its 
aim  and  its  method. 

It  is  to  Augustus  Schleicher  (pb.  1868,  at  Jena,  where  he  taught) 
that  we  are  indebted  for  the  clearest  and  most  conclusive  writings 
on  this  important  subject.  Schleicher  was  especially  distinguished 
amongst  his  fellow-countrymen  for  a  turn  of  mind  altogether  free 
from  metaphysical  reveries.  Like  so  many  others,  he  had  waded 
through  the  schools  of  the  transcendentalists,  and  followed  the 
expounders  of  hyperphysicism  and  " theourgics,"  but  their  subtle- 
had  failed  to  allure  his  positive  intellect,  which  could  ill  rot 
fied  with  dogmatic  and  empty  assertions.  His  was  essentially 
an  experimental  and  methodic  mind.  lie.  was  confessedly  the  first 
to  draw  up  the  general  scheme  of  the  phonetics  and  structure  of 
tic-  Aryan  languages,  whose  relationship  had  been  definitely  pro- 
claimed by  Sir  W.  Jones  at  the  end  of  the  last,  and  scientifically 
demonstrated  by  Bopp  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century. 
A-  Schleicher  was  himself  wont  to  remark,  his  extensive  botanical 
information  was  of  the  greatest  service  to  him  in  his  researches  into 
the  morphology  of  languages,  so  entirely  identical  are  the  processes 
of  analysis  and  comparison  in  the  stud)   of  all  the  natural  sciences. 


G  LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.         [Chap.  i. 

Here  the  ingenious  analogy  deserves  to  he  quoted,  which,  in 
order  to  render  clear  the  difference  "between  the  science  of  language 
and  linguistics,  he  was  fond  of  estahlishing  between  the  philologist 
and  the  botanist  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  linguist  and  horti- 
culturist on  the  other.* 

"  Linguistics,"  he  Avrites,  "  are  a  historical  science,  a  science 
which  has  no  place  except  where  we  are  in  possession  of  a 
literature  and  a  history.  In  the  absence  of  monuments  or  of 
a  literary  culture,  there  is  no  room  for  the  linguist.  In  a  word, 
linguistics  are  applicable  to  historic  documents  alone.  It  is  very 
different  with  philology,  whose  sole  object  is  language  itself, 
whose  sole  study  is  the  examination  of  language  in  itself  and 
for  itself.  The  historical  changes  of  languages,  the  more  or 
less  accidental  development  of  the  vocabulary,  often  even  their 
syntactical  processes,  are  all  but  of  secondary  importance  for 
the  philologist.  He  devotes  his  whole  attention  to  the  study 
of  the  phenomenon  itself  of  articulate  speech  ;  a  natural  function, 
inevitable  and  determined,  from  which  there  is  no  escape, 
and  which,  like  all  other  functions,  is  of  inexorable  necessity. 
It  little  matters  to  the  philologist  that  a  language  may  have  pre- 
vailed for  centuries  over  vast  empires ;  that  it  may  have  produced 
the  most  glorious  literary  monuments ;  that  it  may  have  yielded  to 
the  requirements  of  the  most  delicate  and  refined  intellectual 
culture.  He  little  cares,  on  the  other  hand,  that  an  obscure  idiom 
may  have  perished  without  fruits  or  issue,  stifled  by  other  tongues 
and  ignored  utterly  by  the  mere  linguist.  Literature  is  unquestion- 
ably a  powerful  aid,  thanks  to  which  it  becomes  easy  to  grasp  the 
language  itself,  to  recognise  the  succession  of  its  forms,  the  phases 
of  its  development,  a  valuable,  but  by  no  means  an  indispensable 
ally.  Moreover,  the  knowledge  of  a  single  language  is  insufficient 
for  the  philologist,  and  herein  he  is  again  distinguished  from  the 
linguist.  There  exists  a  Latin  linguistic  science,  for  instance, 
totally  independent  of  the  Greek;  a  Hebrew  equally  independent 
of  the  Arabic  or  Assyrian.     But  we  cannot  speak  of  a  purely  Latin 

*  "  Die  deutsclie  Sprache,"  Introduction. 


Chap,  i.]        LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.  7 

or  a  purely  Hebrew  philology.  Philology,  as  above  stated,  is 
nothing  unless  comparative.  In  fact,  we  cannot  explain  one  form 
without  comparing  it  with  others.  Hence  linguistics  may  be 
special,  and  restricted  to  one  language.  But  when  there  is  question 
of  the  constituent  elements,  and  of  the  structure  of  a  language,  Ave 
must  be  previously  familiar  with  the  phonetics,  and  the  structure 
of  a  certain  number  of  other  tongues.  Let  us  repeat  it  once  more  : 
the  researches  of  the  philologist  are  consequently  always  and 
essentially  comparative,  whereas  those  of  the  linguist  may  be  cpiite 
special." 

It  is  here  that  Schleicher  introduces  his  ingenious  and  reasonable 

comparison.     "  The  philologist,"  he  remarks,   "  is  a  naturalist.     He 

studies  languages  as  the  botanist  studies  plants.     The  botanist  must 

embrace   at   a   glance   the   totality    of    vegetable    organisms.     He 

inquires  into  the  laws  of  their  structure  and  of  their  development ; 

but  he  is  in  no  way  concerned  with  their  greater  or  less  intrinsic 

worth,   with  their  more  or  less  valuable  uses,   the  more   or   less 

acknowledged  pleasure  afforded  by  them.     In  his  eyes,  the  first  wild 

flower  to  hand  may  have  a  far  higher  value  than  the  loveliest  rose, 

or  the  choicest  lily.     The  province  of  the  linguist  is  far  different. 

It  is  not  witli  the  botanist,  but  with  the  horticulturist  that  he  must 

•mparecL     Tin-  latter  devotes  his  attention  only  to  such  or  such 

3  that  may  be  the  object  of  special  attraction  ;  what  he  seeks 

i-  beauty  of  form,  colour,  and  perfume.     A  useless  plant  has  no 

value  in  1.  he  has  nothing  to  do  Avith  the  laws  of  structure 

or  development,  and  a  vegetable  that  in  this  respect  may  possess  the 

I  isl  value,  may  possibly  lie' for  him  nothing  but  a  common  weed." 

Th.-  comparison  is  correct,  and,  betterthan  any  more  or  less  lucid 

explanation,  points  out  clearly  enough  that  the  philologist  studies 

in  man  the  phenomenon  of  articulate  s| h  and  its  results,  just  as 

all  physiologists  study  such  other  functions  as  locomotion,  smell, 
.  digestion,  or  circulation  of  the  blood.  And  not  only  does  he 
inquire  into  ami  determine  the  normal  laws  peculiar  to  this  phe- 
nomenon, but  he  al-o  discovers  and  describes  the  changes,  really 
pathological  in  their  nature,  which  are  frequentlj  presented  during 
the  course  of  tic  life  of  languages. 


LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.        [Chap.  i. 


§  2. — The  Life  of  Languages. 

For  in  point  of  fact  languages  are  born,  grow,  decay,  and  perish, 
like  all  other  living  tilings.  They  pass  first  through  an  embryonic 
period,  then  reach  their  highest  development,  and  lastly  enter  on  a 
stage  of  retrogressive  disintegration.  It  is  precisely  this  conception 
of  the  life  of  language  that,  as  already  remarked,  distinguishes  the 
modern  science  of  language  from  the  unmethodical  speculations  of 
the  past. 

In  another  chapter  we  shall  speak  of  the  birth  of  languages,  and 
of  the  origin  of  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech.  We  shall  also  see, 
farther  on,  how  the  most  intricate  philological  systems  grow  out  of 
rudimentary  systems ;  how,  in  a  word,  the  highest  morphological 
stratifications  ever  rest  upon  others  of  a  lower  order. 

Languages  once  born,  cannot  be  said  to  enter  at  once  on  their 
historic  career,  if  by  this  we  are  to  understand  that  their  develop- 
ment becomes  henceforth  subject  to  the  whims  and  caprice  of 
fashion.  To  suppose  so  would  be  a  serious  error,  for  their  develop- 
ment is  determined  beforehand,  and  the  course  of  then  life  can  by 
no  conceivable  departure  from  the  natural  laws  escape  from  the 
necessities  common  to  all  living  things.  Under  the  influence  of 
favourable  or  adverse  circumstances,  they  may  undergo  more  or  less 
serious  modifications,  they  may  advance  more  or  less  precipitately 
to  decrepitude  and  extinction,  but  nothing  can  ever  bend  or  change 
then  organic  tendencies.  They  are,  in  a  word,  what  then  nature 
compels  them  to  be. 

There  are,  for  instance,  no  such  things  as  mixed  languages,  nor  is 
it  possible  to  conceive,  say,  an  Aryan  tongue,  whose  grammar  is 
partly  Slavonic,  partly  Latin.  English  again,  into  which  have  been 
introduced  so  many  foreign  and  especially  French  (and  Lathi) 
elements,  remains  none  the  less  as  it  will  remain  to  the  last,  a  true 
Teutonic  tongue.  Basque  is  similarly  circumstanced,  its  constant 
borrowings  from  two  Komance  tongues  never  having  been  able  to 
affect  its  inner  structure.  In  the  same  way  the  Husvaresh,  or 
Paldavi,  remained  throughout  medieval  times  an  Aryan  language, 


Chap,  l]  LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.  9 

notwithstanding  the  large  amount  of  Semitic  elements  which  found 
then-  way  into  it. 

But  it  cannot  he  douhted  that  such  intellectual  commerce,  and 
that  such  borrowings,  the  inevitable  results  of  civilisation,  in  a 
marked  manner  hasten  on  or  promote  the  life  of  languages.  To 
this  truth  the  most  evident  and  tangible  facts  hear  witness.  Thus 
amongst  the  Teutonic  tongues  English  has  run  a  singularly  rapid 
course,  whilst  Icelandic  has  often  preserved  some  very  primitive 
forms  with  striking  fidelity.  The  obscure  Lithuanian  may  he  looked 
upon  as  the  hest  preserved  of  ah  Aryan  languages  in  Europe,  and 
in  all  probability  woidd  still  for  a  long  time  to  come  challenge  our 
admiration  of  its  ancient  and  precious  forms,  did  not  the  rough 
competition  of  German  threaten  it  with  approaching  extinction. 
It  is  thus  that  such  unecpial  hut  inevitable  struggles  daily  cause  the 
destruction  of  beings  full  of  life  and  health,  and  which  under  less 
disastrous  conditions  would  have  enjoyed  a  long  term  of  existence, 
instead  of  perishing  miserably  and  without  issue. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  a  philological  system,  once  it  has 
attained  its  most  iiomishing  state  and  its  highest  development,  does 
not  forthwith  enter  on  its  downward  course,  and  it  is  equally  hard 
to  suppose  that  this  period  is  not  itself  characterised  in  a  special 
manner  by  an  ever-increasing  tendency  towards  independence  on 
tin-  pari  of  the  various  idioms  of  such  a  system.  "We  know,  for 
instance,  that  the  [ndo-European  or  Aryan  tongues — Indie,  Iranic, 
Eellenic,  [talic,  Keltic,  Teutonic,  Slavonic,  Lettic — spring  from  a 
common  mother,  whose  phonetic  elements  it  has  been  possible  to 
determine,  and  whose  morphology  and  structure  have  been  re- 
covered, at  least  in  all  their  essential  features.  Now,  it  may  be 
assumed  thai  the  period  of  formation,  to  which  must  in  all  likeli- 
hood I-  assigned  a  very  protracted  duration,  was  brought  to  a  close 
,11  as  dialectic  divergencies  began  to  make  their  appearance, 
ami  thai  no  sensible  interval  elapsed  between  the  firsl  stage  and  the 
period  of  retrogressive  change.  One  of  the  most  important  duties 
of  philology  is  precisely  to  determine,  or  rather  to  restore,  the  forms 
,,f  mother-tongues  possessing  no  written  monuments,  at  the  time 
when  they  were  breaking  up  into  dialectic  subdivisions.     The  task 


10  LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.         [Chap,  i 

as  stated,  lias  been  all  but  accomplished  for  the  Aryan  system ;  but 
it  has  scarcely  yet  been  roughly  sketched  for  the  Semitic  family — 
Chaldee,  Syriac,  Hebrew,  Phoenician,  Arabic,  &c. — while  all  has 
yet  to  be  done  for  the  other  systems ;  as,  for  instance,  the  so-called 
Hamitic  (ancient  Egyptian,  Coptic,  Ta-Masheq,  Galla,  &c),  and 
that  of  the  Dravidian  tongues,  such  as  Tamil,  Telugu,  &c. 

However,  the  life  of  languages  is  not  a  matter  to  be  disposed  of 
in  a  few  pages.  To  do  it  justice  would  require  a  whole  volume,  and 
a  long  series  of  examples  drawn  from  the  various  families  of 
languages  respectively.  The  matter  cannot  be  here  further  dwelt 
upon ;  and  we  must  rest  satisfied  Avith  having  pointed  out  the 
general  and  persistent  fact  of  this  life,  of  this  material  energy,  under 
one  of  its  most  curious  and  instructive  aspects. 


§3. — Linguistics  and  Philology  mutually  useful  to  each  other. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  philology  finds  at  times  a  powerful  ally 
in  the  employment  of  the  historic  method.  This  latter  is  in  fact 
indispensable  when  we  come  to  enter  upon  the  still  almost  virgin 
soil  of  syntax,  where  a  more  or  less  sensible  individual  influence 
may  make  itself  felt.  Let  us,  however,  repeat  that  the  natural 
science  of  philology  and  the  historical  science  of  linguistics  are  not 
rivals,  and  that  there  is  nothing  to  justify  the  assumption  that  they 
are  two  hostile  sciences.  In  truth,  two  branches  of  knowledge, 
however  different  in  their  nature,  cannot  lead  to  contradictory 
results,  nor  can  two  true  sciences,  really  worthy  of  the  name,  be  in 
any  sense  enemies  of  each  other.  The  various  sciences  are  on  the 
contrary  the  complements  one  of  the  other,  each  being  at  once  both 
debtor  and  creditor  of  all  the  rest. 

Such  is  especially  the  case  both  with  philology  and  linguistics. 
The  latter  must,  at  least  in  a  general  way,  recognise  the  results 
obtained  by  the  former.  If  it  knows  nothing  of  speech  itself, 
which  is  such  a  powerful  aid  to  progress,  if  it  ignores  its  structure 
and  constituent  elements,  it  can  never  form  an  adequate  judgment 


Chap,  i.]         LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.  11 

on  the  acquisitions  of  this  agent.  As  well  say  that  an  ethno- 
graphist  might  derive  profit  from  a  collection  of  elementary  data 
respecting  the  anatomy  of  races,  without  taking  them  even  into 
calculation.  This  is  almost  a  truism,  and  yet  there  are  many 
linguists  whom  it  has  so  far  failed  to  convince.  Hence  those 
interminable  and  abstract  discussions,  without  object,  without 
sound  knowledge,  and  mostly  pedantic,  that  medley  of  idle  hair- 
splitting, in  which  declamation  competes  with  shallowness  and 
inanity. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  linguist  himself  collects  valuable 
materials  for  the  philologist.  He  facilitates  a  knowledge  of  the 
historic  forms  of  languages,  and  reveals  all  that  he  has  been  able  to 
discover  respecting  their  chronology  and  succession.  Lastly,  he 
discloses  all  the  dialectical  divergencies  which  are  so  pregnant  with 
valuable  instruction. 

Hence,  if  it  is  necessary  carefully  to  distinguish  these  two 
sciences  in  their  aim  and  their  method,  it  is  no  less  important  to 
acknowledge  that  they  are  both  of  them  destined  to  render  each 
otheT  mutual,  and  possibly  very  considerable  assistance.  Thus  it  is 
that  history  has  frequently  furnished  useful  materials  for  the  study 
of  the  races  of  mankind,  and  that  anthropology  lias,  in  its  turn, 
thrown  light  upon  many  historic  events. 


§  L—The  Polyglot. 

The  practical  knowledge  of  languages,  or,  to  speak  more  exactly, 
the  art  of  Bpeaking  them  fluently  and  correctly,  depends  mainly  on 
natural  capacity,  winch  is  itself  developed  by  a  more  or  less  pro- 
d  exercise.  But  it  would  be  a  mistake  ever  to  regard  it  as  a 
science.  One  is  often  surprised  to  meel  with  an  author  of  numerous 
and  sound  philological  works,  who  is  incapable  of  conversing  in 
three  or  four  different  languages,  and  we  are  still  more  astonished 
to  find  that  he  is  perhaps  unable  to  make  \\>*-  of  any  language 
except  his  own  with  ease  and   fluency.      Hut  this  arises   from  a 


12  LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.         [Chap.  i. 

misunderstanding.  The  philologist  is  not  a  polyglot,  or  at  least  he 
need  not  be  one.  The  polyglot,  again,  has  no  claim  based  on  his 
art  to  the  title  of  philologist ;  yet  we  constantly  hear  this  name 
given  to  persons  who,  thanks  to  some  exceptional  circumstances, 
and  especially  to  the  individual  aptitude  above  mentioned,  dis- 
course with  more  or  less  ease  in  ten  or  twelve  languages,  occa- 
sionally even  in  a  still  greater  number,  without  at  the  same  time 
possessing  the  least  notion  of  their  inner  structure. 

What  has  been  above  stated  concerning  the  nature  of  philology 
and  of  philological  studies  obviates  the  necessity  of  dwelling  further 
on  this  common  confusion  of  ideas.  At  the  same  time,  however, 
we  are  of  opinion  that  the  results  of  philology  may  to  a  certain 
point  facilitate  the  study  of  the  art  here  in  question.  Let  us  take, 
for  instance,  the  Eomance  tongues,  which  Aoav  directly  from  vulgar 
Latin.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  we  may  pass  from  one  to  another 
of  these  idioms,  according  to  tolerably  fixed  rules,  in  all  that  more 
especially  concerns  their  phonetics  and  the  interchange  of  con- 
sonants. A  very  small  number  of  general  principles  gives  the  key 
to  the  more  usual  equivalents,  showing  that  the  resemblance  of 
French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  words  is  not  accidental.  By  this 
treatment  it  becomes  logical  and  rational,  rendering  the  study  of 
the  languages  themselves  all  the  more  rapid  the  less  it  is  given  up 
to  mere  chance  and  routine. 

In  the  same  way  the  Teutonic  idioms  possess  laAvs  in  common 
which  are  generally  definite.  For  instance,  to  such  or  such  German 
consonants  correspond  such  or  such  English,  Dutch,  or  Swedish 
letters  uniformly.  And  so  with  the  Slavonic  group,  where 
Bohemian,  Bussian,  Croatian  have  a  perfectly  settled  phonology, 
permitting  us  to  pass  without  much  trouble  from  the  forms  of  any 
one  of  these  languages  to  those  of  the  kindred  tongues.  Jfor  are 
any  great  mental  efforts  needed  in  order  to  reach  these  results, 
nothing  more  being  required  than  a  knowledge  of  a  few  elementary 
principles.  Unfortunately  there  are  still  wanting  practical  manuals 
free  from  all  scientific  parade,  and  planned  in  such  a  way  as  to 
clearly,  and,  if  needs  be,  somewhat  empirically  summarise  these 
few  and  extremely  simple  laws.     Such  little  works  would  be  of 


Chap,  i.]         LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY-ETYMOLOGY.  13 

inestimable  aid  to  the   complicate   and  obsolete   systems  still   in 

use.* 

§  5. — TJie  Dangers  of  Etymology. 

If  a  special  capacity  for  the  practical  acquisition  of  languages  is 
not  a  science,  etymology,  on  the  other  hand,  can  be  looked  upon 
neither  as  a  science  nor  an  art.  In  itself  it  is  nothing  but  a  sort  of 
trick  or  sleight-of-hand,  the  greatest  and  most  relentless  foe  to 
which  is  the  genuine  philologist.  In  a  word,  etymology,  hi  itself 
and  for  itself,  is  mere  guess-work,  ignoring  all  experience,  over- 
riding all  objections,  and  resting  satisfied  with  specious  show,  and 
with  results  which  are  scarcely  probable,  or  even  at  all  possible. 
At  first  sight  the  German  words,  haben,  to  have;  bereit,  ready; 
ahnlieh,  like ;  abenteuer,  adventure,  seem  to  answer,  letter  for 
letter,  with  the  Latin  habere,  paratus,  the  Greek  dvaXoyos,  and  the 
French  aoenture,  as  the  English  to  call  does  to  the  Greek  Kakeiv. 
And  yet  appearances  are  here  deceptive,  philological  analysis  show- 
ing  the  futility  of  such  comparisons  as  these,  which  in  fact  cannot 
for  a  moment  stand  the  test  of  sound  criticism. 

*  This  passage  is  suppressed  in  the  second  edition,  and  the  following 
substituted  :  "Let  us  not  be  too  sanguine  as  to  the  amount  of  success 
likely  to  be  attendant  on  the  introduction  of  a  few  elementary  notions  of 
comparative  Grammar  into  the  lower  classes.  A  lad  of  ten,  twelve,  or 
fifteen  years  can  scarcely  show  any  sustained  interest  in  the  laws  regulating 
the  interchange  of  letters  in  the  languages  he  is  studying.  He  tries  to 
learn  Greek  and  Latin  as  ho  has  learned  his  mother-tongue,  that  is  by  dint 
of  sheer  practice,  without  paying  any  heed  to  rules  more  or  less  eruditely 
framed.  But  would  it  not  be  very  useful,  for  those  at  least  who  are  en- 
gaged  in  teaching,  to  be  acquainted  with  the  existenco  of  these  laws,  and 
to  have  some  knowledge  of  the  principal  and  most  elementary  of  them  ? 
In  our  opinion  it  would  not  bo  going  too  far  to  insist  upon  so  much."  But 
the  original  passage  is  here  retained  in  the  text,  because  it  points,  how- 
ever timidly,  at  a  great  principle,  which  is  gradually,  but  surely,  making  its 
way.  The  translator  has  himself  devoted  many  years  to  the  solution  of  the 
problem,  how  best  to  utilise  the  conclusions  of  comparative  philology  in 
facilitating  the  acquirement  of  languages.  In  spite  of  much  opposition, 
and  much  ignorant  contempt,  ho  has  at  least  succeeded  in  convincing  somo 
few  intelligent  teachers  that  the  problem  admits  of  solution,  and  that  the 

day  i-  perhaps  not  distant  when  science  will    be  happily  and  advantageously 
combined  with  routine  in  the  teaching  of  languages. — Note  by  Translator. 


14  LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.        [Chap.  i. 

It  is  by  means  of  such-like  fantastic  methods  that  attempts  have 
been  made  to  compare  languages  absolutely  unconnected  with  each 
other — the  Semitic  with  the  Aryan  tongues,  Irish  with  Basque. 
The  most  distinguished  Semites,  who  have  rendered  the  greatest 
services  to  the  philology  of  the  Syro-Arabic  languages,  have  fre- 
quently allowed  themselves  to  fall  into  this  trap,  and  a  large 
number  of  their  works  swarm  with  uncritical  comparisons  with 
Aryan  roots  and  words.  The  celebrated  Gesenius  himself  has  not 
escaped  from  the  misapprehension,  so  that  it  is  not  perhaps  sur- 
prising that,  following  in  his  steps,  orthodox  interpreters  have 
yielded  to  it  with  a  keen  relish.  There  is  nothing  more  risky  than 
to  get  hold  of  two  ready-made  words  and  compare  them  together. 
What  at  first  sight  seems  to  establish  the  most  convincing  relation- 
ship is  often  the  most  deceptive. 

On  the  other  hand,  forms  that  we  should  never  dream  of  com- 
paring together  are  often  found  to  be  most  intimately  related  witli 
each  other.  Since  their  primitive  connection  and  identity  in  one 
and  the  same  form,  each  of  them  has  been  subjected  to  different 
modifying  laws.  But  these  laws  are  now  discovered,  and  the 
absolute  unity  of  the  forms  themselves  placed  beyond  doubt. 
Thus,  for  instance,  we  reduce  to  one  and  the  same  primitive  form 
the  Greek  rj8vs  and  the  Latin  suairis;  the  Latin  solus,  and  the  old 
Persian  haruva,  all;  the  old  Irish  il  and  the  Sanskrit  purus,  nume- 
rous ;  the  Greek  Us,  poison,  and  the  Latin  virus ;  the  English  Jive 
and  the  Croatian  pet ;  the  Dutch  vader  and  the  Armenian  hayr;  the 
Armenian  se,  I,  and  the  Croatian  ja.  It  is  thus,  also,  that  words 
belonging  to  one  and  the  same  language,  and  which  at  the  first 
blush  seem  to  be  in  no  way  connected,  belong  in  reality  to  one  and 
the  same  root.  For  instance,  in  Trench,  solide,  solder,  soldat,  seul, 
serf;  jeu,  hon,  jour,  divin;  auspice,  sceptique,  eveque,  epice,  repit; 
assister,  couter,  ('table,  obstacle.  We  should  be  exceeding  the  limits 
assigned  to  this  treatise  were  we  to  set  forth  in  detail  the  principles 
that  connect  all  these  forms  together,  and  which  mere  guess-work 
would,  doubtless,  never  suspect  of  being  so  related. 

What  then  is  etymology? — or,  rather,  what  ought  it  to  be, 
to  deserve  consideration   and   lay  claim   to   any  scientific  value? 


Chap,  i.]         LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.  15 

It    is    simply    a    result — -a    result    both    of    philology    and    of 
linguistics. 

In  the  first  case  it  is  deductive ;  in  the  second,  historical. 
The  history  of  the  French  language  teaches  us  for  example  that 
dinde,    turkey,    is   a   contraction   of  poule   d'Lide;    that   hussard 
comes  indirectly  from  the  Hungarian  husz,  meaning  twenty ;  that 
the  English  jockey  represents  the  Old  French  jaguet.      These  are 
all  so  many  examples   of  linguistic,   or,   if  you  will,   of   historic 
etymologies.     In  this  department,  in  fact,  it  is  historical  criticism 
alone  that  can  decide  on  the  reasonableness  or  likelihood  of  sup- 
positions, on  their  improbability  or  incorrectness.     It  is  historical 
criticism  that  deals  with  the  multitude  of  etymologies  relying  on  so 
many  whys  and  wherefores,  amongst  which  there  are  many  which, 
however  obvious  at  the  first  glance,  must  nevertheless  be  looked 
upon  as  absolutely  arbitrary.     Thus,  according  to  the  Latin  jurists, 
the  slave,  servus,  was  so  called  because  through  the  clemency  of 
the  victor  he  had  been  saved,  preserved,  from  the  death-blow.     But 
the  fact  is,  the  primitive  meaning  of  the  word  is  that  of  protector 
or  guardian,  in  its  nominative  singular  form  corresponding  closely 
to  the  Zend  haurvo,  keeper,  pacus-haurvo,  guard  or  keeper  of  cattle 
in  the  Avesta.     It  is  by  means  of  the  why-and-wherefore  argument 
that  feu,  defunct,  is  derived  from  fait,  he  was.       One  step  more 
and  cadaver  will  come  from  ca  [ro]  da  [ta]  ver  [mibus]  =  caw  data 
vermibu8'}    nobilis  from  non  vilis;   and  digitus  from  (li-tjetuis  =  & 
kind  of  Ood. 

Philological  is  <juite  as  dangerous — perhaps  even  more  dangerous 
than  linguistic  etymology.  "Do  you  know,"  asks  the  learned 
doctor,  "whence  conies  the  expression  galant  homme?" — Le 
Barhouille:  "Whether  it  came  from  Villejuif  or  d'Aubervilliers, 
I  care  little."  The  Doctor:  "Know  that  the  expression  galant 
homme  comes  from  elegant;  taking  the  g  and  the  a  from  the 
I  ijn  ;  and  then  taking  the  /,  adding  an  u  and 
the  t\v.  last  Letters,  that,  makes  galant;  and  then  adding  homme, 
that  makes  galant  homme." 

Tie-  Least  indifferent  of  such  etymologies,  if  all  are  noi  alike 
.  maybe  said  without  exaggeration  to  be  but  little  superior 


16  LINGUISTICS— PHILOLOGY— ETYMOLOGY.         [Chap.  i. 

to  this.  Thus,  it  is  not  more  reasonable  to  compare  the  Greek 
fj-npcpfj,  form,  figure,  appearance,  with  the  Latin  forma,  by  assuming 
that  the  consonants  m  and  /  have  simply  changed  place,  than  it  is 
to  derive  galant  homme  from  elegant.  The  Latin  consonant  / 
initial,  as  will  he  seen  farther  on,  answers  to  an  aspirated  explosive 
(bh,  dh,  or  gh)  of  the  primitive  Aryan  form,  here  to  dh,  which 
gives  us  the  Sanskrit  dharma,  meaning  jus,  justitia,  and  which 
explains  the  force  of  the  Latin  diminutive  formula  =  form,  rule, 
precept,  whereas  p-opfyr]  is  akin  to  fidpnTa  =  I  seize,  a  totally  different 
root.  Yet  how  many  take  as  perfectly  natural  this  pretended  and 
fallacious  resemblance  of  p-op(prj  to  forma,  Avho  are  the  first  to  laugh 
at  Menage  for  deriving  rat  from  the  Latin  mus  by  means  of  the 
assumed  intermediate  form  muratus,  whence  ratus. 

The  idea  of  looking  on  the  philologist  as  a  mere  manufacturer  of 
etymologies  is  far  too  common,  though  it  can  be  entertained  by 
those  alone  who  have  no  notion  either  of  the  scope  or  the  method 
of  philology.  In  truth,  the  scientific  linguist  looks  on  the  more  or 
less  striking  resemblances  that  give  rise  to  the  so-called  elegant 
etymological  explanations  as  the  very  opposite  of  conclusive.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  him  how  far  they  may  be  deceptive;  but 
before  and  above  all  it  has  taught  him  that  languages  are  not 
the  result  of  mere  chance,  but,  like  all  other  functions,  correspond 
to  an  organic  necessity;  that  the  laws  regidating  them  reveal  a 
precision  all  the  more  striking  in  proportion  as  they  are  the  more 
methodically  studied;  that  these  laws,  in  a  Avord,  in  many  cases 
discover  and  explain  the  direct  or  indirect  relationship  of  words ; 
but  that  the  inquiry  into  such  relationship  is  but  an  accessory,  an 
accidental  fact,  void  of  all  scientific  interest. 

The  etymologist,  it  has  been  said,  makes  little  account  of  the 
consonants,  and  neglects  the  vowels  altogether.  But  this  is  not 
all.  Hopelessly  to  shut  the  eyes  to  the  true  nature  of  linguistics, 
and,  if  possible,  to  be  still  more  blind  to  the  nature  of  philology — 
such  is  the  basis,  such  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  pretended  science  of 
etymology.  It  is  by  means  of  such  etymological  processes  that 
Basque  has  been  brought  into  relationship  with  Irish,  that  French 
and  Provencal  have  been  converted  into  Keltic  dialects,  that  Latin 


Chap,  ii.]     ARTICULATE   SPEECH   IN   NATURAL  HISTORY.  17 

has  been  derived  from  Greek,  that  Phoenician  has  been  transformed 
into  anything  or  everything.  It  is  by  means  of  etymology  that 
even  now  attempts  are  made  to  characterise  the  language  of  the 
ancient  Iberians  with  the  help  of  a  few  geographical  terms  taken 
at  random;  it  is  by  the  same  medium  that  the  Etruscan  inscrip- 
tions have  been  recently  read  off  fluently  in  two  or  three  different 
languages. 

It  cannot  be  too  often  insisted  upon  that  philology  has  nothing 
in  common  with  these  mental  gymnastics.  The  very  first  shoal 
that  it  guards  its  followers  against,  is  the  temptation  to  deal  with 
words  ready  made.  The  etymologist  is  fain  to  yield  to  this 
temptation,  precisely  because  it  forms  the  basis  of  his  operations; 
and  the  phdologist  himself  must  doubtless  at  times  rest  satisfied 
with  mere  assumptions.  But  these  will  have  no  Aveight  either  on 
his  conclusions  or  his  method  of  research.  What  he  aims  at  dis- 
covering and  studying  are  the  simple  elements  of  speech  and  their 
manner  of  coalescing  together,  the  functions  of  organic  forms,  the 
laws  that  regulate  tin.'  development  and  subsequent  modifications 
of  these  forms. 

Philology  is  therefore  nothing  but  a  natural  science,  a  truth 
which  will  be  further  confirmed  by  the  consideration  of  a  fresh 
subject  connected  with  it. 


CHAPTEE    II 


THE  !  IlTB  SPEECH— ITS  LOCALITY  AND  IMPORTANCE 

J.\    NATURAL    BISTORT. 

Max  is  man  in  virtue  of  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech.  This 
proposition,  at  one  time  received  with  suspicion,  lias  now  become  a, 
truism,  at  least  for  those  who  believe  thai  metaphysics  have  ran 
their  com  e.     Though  it  may  not  be  a  very  convincing  argument  to 

own  authoritie  i,  we  may  still  be  per- 
mitted to  quote,  in  connection  with  this  subject,  the  opinion  of 
authors,  of  whom  science  is  justly  proud     Such,  for  instance, 

c 


18  ARTICULATE   SPEECH  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY.     [Chap.  ii. 

is  that  of  M.  Charles  Martins  :  "  Articulate  language  is  the  dis- 
tinctive character  of  man."*  That  of  Ch.  Darwin:  "Articulate 
speech  is  peculiar  to  man,  although,  like  other  animals,  he  may  be 
able  to  express  his  intentions  by  inarticulate  cries,  by  gestures,  and 
by  the  muscular  movements  of  his  features,  "t  That  of  M.  Hunfaly: 
"  The  origin  of  man  ought  to  be  considered  coincident  with  that  of 
speech."!  That  of  M.  Haeckel :  "  Nothing  can  have  transformed 
and  ennobled  the  faculties  and  the  brain  of  man  so  much  as  the 
acquisition  of  language.  The  most  complete  differentiation  of  the 
brain,  its  perfection  and  that  of  its  noblest  functions,  that  is  to  say, 
of  the  intellectual  faculties,  while  reciprocally  influencing  each 
other,  still  kept  pace  with  their  manifestation  in  speech.  It  is 
therefore  with  good  reason  that  the  most  distinguished  cultivators 
of  comparative  philology  look  upon  human  speech  as  the  most 
decisive  step  man  has  taken  to  separate  himself  from  his  animal 
ancestors.  This  is  a  point  that  Schleicher  has  ably  handled  in  his 
work  on  the  importance  of  language  in  the  natural  history  of  man. 
There  is  seen  the  connecting  link  between  zoology  and  comparative 
philology,  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  enabling  each  of  these  sciences- 
to  follow  step  by  step  the  origin  of  language."  And  farther  on, 
"  This  man-ape  did  not  yet  possess  true  speech,  that  is  articulate 
language  expressing  ideas."§ 

We  shall  return  at  the  proper  time  to  the  question  of  the 
coincidence  of  the  birth  of  man  with  that  of  the  faculty  of 
articidate  speech.  For  the  present,  let  us  be  satisfied  with  insisting 
on  the  capital  point,  that  the  faculty  in  question  constitutes  the 
one  absolute  characteristic  of  humanity. 

In  studying  the  comparative  anatomy  of  man  and  other  in- 
ferior animals,  all  attempts  have  failed  to  discover  any  difference 

*  "  La  Creation  du  Monde  Organise,"  in  the  "  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes," 
December  15th,  1871,  p.  778. 

f  "  The  Descent  of  Man  and  Sexual  Selection,"   vol.  i.  p.  58. 

J  "  International  Congress  of  Prehistoric  Anthropology  and  Archaeology, 
Fifth  Session,"  vol.  i.  p.  58. 

§"  History  of  the  Creation  of  Organised  Beings,  according  to  Natural 
Laws."     French  translation,  by  Ch.  Letourneau,  pp.  592  and  614. 


Chap,  ii.]     ARTICULATE    SPEECH   IN  NATURAL   HISTORY.  19 

beyond  one  of  degree  between  the  two.  And  even  this  divergence 
has  been  greatly  diminished  in  the  eyes  of  all  unprejudiced 
observers,  since  the  discovery  of  the  African  anthropoids.  The 
sentimental  theory  of  the  supremacy  of  man  may  be  said  to  be  at 
an  end,  and  to  have  at  last  fallen  into  utter  discredit.  Man  is  no 
longer  distinguished  from  the  anthropoids,  either  by  the  structure  of 
the  teeth,  the  character  of  the  intermaxillary  bone,  the  formation 
of  the  hands  and  feet,  the  constitution  and  functions  of  the  vertebral 
column,  the  structure  of  pelvis  and  sternum,  the  muscular  system, 
the  facts  connected  with  the  external  sensorial  apparatus,  the 
digestive  organs,  or  the  anatomical  and  morphological  characters  of 
the  brain.* 

Xay  more,  there  exists  in  this  respect  a  far  more  serious  gap 
between  the  inferior  apes  and  the  anthropoids,  than  between  these 
latter  and  man.t  Reliance  was  accordingly  then  placed  on  the  so- 
called  non-physical  characters.  But  the  inferior  animals  also  were 
found  to  possess  foresight,  memory,  imagination,  the  reasoning 
faculty,  the  amount  of  will  compatible  with  their  organic  systems, 
giving  the  most  unecpiivocal  proofs  of  feelings  of  pity,  wonder 
ambition,  affection,  love  of  ride,  and  method  in  their  work. 

At  last  recourse  was  iinally  had  to  the  two  arguments  hitherto 
held  in  ceserve — that  is,  to  those  based  on  religion  and  morality 
though  with  but  indifferent  success.  And  in  truth  it  is  easy  to 
Bubject  the  religious  sentiment  to  the  same  critique  that  takes 
cognisance  of  .-til  other  mental  phases,  and  to  show  that  it  lias 
it^  origin  in  fear,  the  dread  of  the  unknown:  primus  in  orbe  deos 

*  Broca,  "  Discours  surl'Homme  et  les  Animaux,"  in  tho  "  Bulletins  of  the 
Paris  AntLropological  Society,"  1866,  p.  53 ;  "  L'Ordre  des  Primates,"  ib. 
L869,  }>.  --S;  "  Etudes  sur  la  Constitution  des  Vertebras  caudales  ohez  Les 
Primates  Bans  Queue,"  in  the  "  Revuo  d' Anthropologic,"  ii.  577.  See  also 
Vogt ,  "  Lemons  sur  l'Homme,"  eighth  lesson ;  Schaffhausen,  "  Les  Questions 
Anthropologiques  de  notre  Temps,"  "Revuo  Scicntifique,"  1868,  p.  76U ; 
Paul  Bert,  "  Bulletins  de  la  Xoriote"  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,"  L862,  p.  473  : 
Bertfllon,  ib.  1865,  p.  605 ;  Magitot,  ib.  1869,  p.  113. 

t  Broca,  "L'Ordre  des  Primates,  &c,"  op.  rit.  passim  ;  Dally,  "  L'Ordro 
'lc  Primafa  .J  et,  !  ■  Transforniisme,"  in  tho  "  Bulletins  de  la  Socicte  d'Anthro- 
pologie," 1868,  p.  673. 

0  2 


20  ARTICULATE   SPEECH   IN   NATURAL  HISTORY.     [Chap.  II. 

fecit  timer.  The  child  is  not  born  into  the  world  endowed  with 
the  religions  faculty  :  "  On  this  point  he  knows  what  he  is  taught, 
but  he  guesses  nothing;  he  has  no  intuitive  perception."*  All 
this  has  been  excellently  set  forth  by  M.  Broca :  "  The  author  of 
a  religious  conception  brings  into  play  certain  active  faculties, 
amongst  which  the  imagination  often  occupies  the  chief  place. 
Here  we  have  a  first  species  of  religiosity  which  I  will  call  the 
active  religious  sentiment.  But  this  manifests  itself  in  a  very 
limited  number  of  individuals  only.  The  greater  part,  the  vast 
majority  of  men,  have  nothing  beyond  a  passive  religion,  which 
consists  merely  in  believing  what  they  are  told  to  believe,  without 
being  required  to  understand  it ;  and  this  f eeling  itself  is  for  the 
most  part  nothing  but  the  result  of  education.  From  his  earliest 
infancy  the  chdd  is  reared  in  the  midst  of  certain  behefs,  to  which 
his  mind  is  moulded  without  his  being  in  a  position  to  argue  or  to 
reason  on  the  matter.  No  intellect  can  escape  from  the  action  of 
such  systematic  instruction,  planned  and  perfected  during  the 
course  of  ages.  The  child  submits  in  all  cases,  and  frequently 
once  for  all.  He  bebeves  without  inquiry,  because  still  incapable 
of  examining  for  himself,  and  because  in  all  matters,  whether  reli- 
gious or  not,  he  refers  blindly  to  the  authority  of  his  instructors. 

In  all  this  there  is  nothing  to  reveal  the  existence  of  a  faculty, 
of  a  capacity,  or  of  any. special  promptings  of  the  mind.  But  with 
years,  experience,  and  especially  study,  this  passive  state  always 
gives  place  to  a  certain  degree  of  scepticism.  We  begin  to  lose 
confidence  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  the  statements  of  others ; 
it  is  no  longer  enough  merely  to  hear  a  thing  asserted  in  order  to 
accept  it ;  we  ask  for  proofs,  and  when  any  one  takes  for  granted 
everything  that  he  is  told,  we  say  of  him  that  he  is  credulous  as  a 
child. 

*  Letourneau,  "  De  la  Religiosite  et  des  Religions  au  point  de  Vne  anthro- 
pologique,"  in  the  "Bulletins  de  la  Societe  d' Anthropologic,"  1865,  p.  581 ; 
"Sur  la  Methode  qui  a  conduit  a  etablir  un  Regne  Humain,"  ib.  1866,  p.  269; 
Lagneau,  ib.  1865,  p.  648;  Coudereau,  ib.  1S66,  p.  329;  Broca,  "  Discours,"' 
&c,  ib.  1866,  pp.  59  and  74;  Dally,  "Du  Regne  Humain  et  de  la  Religiosity," 
ib.,  1866,  p.  121. 


Chap,  ii.]     ARTICULATE   SPEECH   IN   NATURAL   HISTORY.  21 

The  spirit  of  criticism,  which  grows  with  the  growth  of  the 
intellect  itself,  is  at  first  concerned  with  material  actions,  the 
events  of  everyday  life,  in  many  cases  never  getting  beyond  this 
order  of  phenomena.  But  in  many  others,  without  at  all  changing 
its  character,  it  widens  its  circle  so  as  to  embrace  metaphysical  and 
religious  thought.  Hence  in  every  country,  and  especially  in  those 
where  the  mind  of  man  is  cultivated,  we  meet  with  a  great  number 
of  individuals  Avho  little  by  little  give  up  a  part  or  even  the  whole 
of  their  religious  views.  Has  then  this  human  sentiment,  which 
you  call  religiosity,  been  effaced  from  their  minds  1  Would  you 
place  on  a  level  with  brute  creation  those  men,  who  are  often 
distinguished  by  the  extent  of  their  learning  and  the  vigour  of 
their  mental  powers '? 

Thus,  from  whatever  point,  of  view  we  consider  this  religious 
element,  it  becomes  impossible  to  look  upon  it  as  a  universal  fact, 
inseparable  from  the  nature  of  man.  The  active  sentiment,  which 
gives  birth  to  religious  conceptions,  exists  in  a  few  individuals 
only.  The  passive  sentiment,  which  is  but  a  form  of  obedience  to 
authority,  or  of  the  adaptation  of  the  mind  to  its  surroundings, 
though  indefinitely  more  diffused,  is  still  very  far  from  being 
universal.  Were  it  otherwise,  the  zealots  of  the  various  forms  of 
religion  would  not  keep  thundering  as  they  do  against  unbelief. 

It  should  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  that  this  pretended  sen- 
timent is  not  only  not  shared  in  by  a  great  many  men  of  science, 
but  is  further  absolutely  non-existent  amongst  a  good  many  reputed 
savage  peoples.  It  is  needless  here  to  reproduce  the  emphatic 
statements  of  a  crowd  of  unprejudiced  observers — statements  which 
have  been  vainly  called  in  question.  Tribes  living  without  definite 
faiths  or  forms  of  worship  have  been  supposed  to  believe  at  least  in 
supernatural  forces  and  manifestations.  But  it  is  certain  in  fact, 
self-evident— that  the  very  inferiority  of  these  races  lenders  them 
incapable  of  at  all  distinguishing  between  the  natural  and  the 
^>-<;alled   supernatural.      Hence    Lhe    iieee     ilv   of   in   all   cases  again 

ultimately   falling   back  on    that    fear,    in    itself    easily   enough 
accounted  for,  which  has  been  above  spoken  of— the  Eeax  of  an 

unknown,  or   rather   of   the    unknown.      But    if    in   this   we   are   to 


22  AETICULATE    SPEECH   IN  NATURAL  HISTORY.     [Chap.  ii. 

recognise  a  religion,  then  there  is  no  animal,  however  low,  to 
whom  the  religions  sentiment  can  he  denied. 

It  is  needless  to  dwell  upon  the  last  objection — the  assumed 
sentiment  of  morality.  It  is  an  ascertained  fact  that  it  does  not 
exist  amongst  a  multitude  of  savage  trihes,  as  the  records  of  eth- 
nology clearly  prove ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  unmistakably 
■to  he  detected  in  the  acts  of  a  large  number  of  animals,  at  least 
of  the  social  order. 

Thus  it  is  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech  that  ultimately  and 
conclusively  distinguishes  man  from  the  inferior  creation,  where 
no  trace  of  this  faculty  has  ever  been  detected.  Xo  argument 
can  of  course  be  based  on  the  power  of  parrots  to  repeat  words — 
words  which  are  no  doubt  articulate,  but  the  utterance  of  which 
is  totally  disconnected  Avith  any  corresponding  mental  conception. 
This  very  correspondence  and  intimate  association  between  the 
word  and  the  thought  precisely  constitutes  the  true  character  of 
articulate  human  speech,  which  the  parrot  does  but  unconsciously 
echo. 

I*his  characteristic,  again,  is  common  to  all  the  races  of  man- 
kind, which  is  in  itself  conclusive.  However  rude  the  idioms  of 
the  lowest  types  may  appear,  they  have  none  the  less  a  full  claim 
to  the  title  of  true  speech ;  and  the  greater  or  less  degree  of  harmony 
and  grace  possessed  by  them  in  no  way  affects  their  true  nature. 
Besides,  it  should  be  observed  that  it  is  only  the  utterance  and 
sounds  of  their  languages  that  may  seem  strange,  their  structure 
being  often  far  from  rudimentary. 

But  it  is  objected  that  individuals  not  possessing  this  pretended 
distinctive  human  character,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  for  instance,  from 
their  birth,  or  persons  stricken  with  speechlessness  in  consequence 
of  some  injury  to  the  brain,  could  not  in  this  case  be  considered  as 
human  beings,  though  on  the  other  hand  their  claim  to  the  title 
cannot  be  gainsaid. 

This  two-fold  objection,  though  scarcely  possessing  the  force  of  a 
specious  argument,  may  still  be  Worth  refuting. 

What  the  mute  lacks  at  birth  is  by  no  means  the  faculty  here  in 
question,  but  the  power  of  exercising  it.     He  is  dumb  only  because 


Chap,  ii.]     ARTICULATE   SPEECH  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY.  23 

lie  i.s  deaf,  his  deafness  alone  preventing  liim  from  making  use  of 
the  faculty  of  speech.  Besides,  careful  instruction  may  remove 
this  obstacle,  and  in  point  of  fact  those  born  deaf  and  dumb  do 
learn  to  speak  and  make  use  of  the  inherent  gift  of  articulate  speech. 
"The  mute,  properly  so-called,  is  no  more  affected  in  the  cerebral 
or  vocal  organs  of  speech  than  is  a  person  whose  legs  are  tied  in  the 
organs  of  locomotion.  [Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  lacks  the 
native  faculty.  They  lack  nothing  but  the  liberty  of  exercising  it, 
and  this  itself  is  due  to  a  circumstance  foreign  to  the  faculty 
itself/'* 

We  shall  consider  more  fully  the  case  of  a  cerebral  lesion 
resulting  in  the  loss  of  speech.  Assuredly  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  persons  so  affected  retain  their  right  to  be  considered  as 
human  beings,  even  when  speechlessness  is  complete.  But  the 
residts  of  the  important  studies  made  in  Trance  on  this  subject  do 
not  yet  seem  to  be  sufficiently  known ;  hence  it  is  well,  and  even 
necessary,  here  to  proclaim  them.  It  may  at  the  same  time  help  to 
throw  further  light  on  the  true  nature  of  philological  research. 

The  attempts  made  during  the  last  century  to  localise  the  cerebral 
faculties  v  1  em  a  sound  principle,  but  they  Avere  necessarily 

red  misuccessful  through  the  want  of  experimental  processes. 
At  the  present  day  the  question  has  been  resumed  by  pathological 
anatomy,  and  it  is  diflicidt  to  overlook  the  great  importance  of  the 
-  arrived  at  by  M.  Broca  in  this  domain,  t  We  shall  here  pass 
them  rapidly  in  review.  + 

*  Vaisse,  "  Bulletins  de  la  Societe  dAnthropologie  do  Paris,"  1866,  p.  146. 

f  "Bulletins  de  la  Societe'  Anatomique,"  1861,  1863;  "Bulletins  de  la 
Societe  de  Chirurgie,"  1861;  "Bulletins  de  i.i  Societe  dAnthropologie  do 
1861,  18G3,  1865, 1866;  "  Expose  des  Titres  et  Travaux  Scientifiqucs," 
1868. 

X  What  follows  may  be  rendered  more  intelligible  to  tbe  unscientific 
reader  by  a  brief  account  of  the.  parts  of  the  cncephalon  alluded  to.  The 
cerebrum,  or  brain  proper,  as  distinguished  from  the  cerebellum,  ou  which 
it  partly  rests,  is  divided  by  the  great  longitudinal  fissure  into  two  lateral 
halves,  known  respectively  as  the  right  and  left  hemispheres.  The  under 
Surface  of  each  hemisphere  is  marked  off  into  three  parts  or  lobes — anterior, 
middle,  and  posterior,  according  to  their  position;  the  posterior  being  that 
part  overlapping  the  cerebellum,  while  the  anterior  and  middle  are  clearly 


2i  ARTICULATE   SPEECH   IN  NATURAL   HISTORY.     [Chap.  ir. 

The  exercise  of  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech  would  seem  to  he 
dependent  "  on  the  integrity  of  a  very  circumscribed  portion  of  the 
cerebral  hemispheres,  and  more  especially  of  the  left.  This  portion 
is  situated  on  the  upper  border  of  the  Sylvian  fissure,  opposite  the 
Island  of  Eeil,  occupying  the  posterior  half,  or  probably  not  more 
than  the  third  part  of  the  third  frontal  convolution."  It  was  the 
autopsy  of  those  subject  to  aphasia,  that  is,  of  those  the  muscles  of 
whose  articulation  are  not  in  the  least  paralysed,  that  has  demon- 
strated this  localisation.  In  truth,  this  autopsy  almost  constantly 
reveals  "  a  very  decided  lesion  of  the  posterior  half  of  the  right  or 
left  third  frontal  convolution,"  nearly  always,  or  about  nineteen  in 
twenty  times  on  the  left  side.  A  serious  lesion  of  the  right  has  in 
many  cases  not  affected  the  power  of  speech;  but  "this  faculty 
has  never  been  known  to  survive  in  the  case  of  those  whose 
autopsy  has  disclosed  a  deep  lesion  of  the  two  convolutions  in 
question." 

"We  need  not  here  mention  the  series  of  operations  bearing  on  this 
point,  which,  in  our  opinion,  are  entirely  conclusive,  and  which  have 
been  placed  on  record  by  a  number  of  anatomists.  Those  who  are 
curious  in  the  matter,  will  find  them  in  the  works  quoted  in  the  last 
note.  The  interesting  question,  however,  presents  itself,  why  the 
exercise  of  the  faculty  of  articidate  speech  should  depend  so  much 
more  particularly  on  a  convolution  of  the  left  cerebral  hemisphere, 
than  on  the  corresponding  one  on  the  right,  although  the  functions 
of  both  hemispheres  do  not  seem  to  be  radically  different.  This 
curious  phenomenon  is  due  to  the  fact,  that  the  convolutions  of  the 
left  hemisphere  have  in  general  a  much  more  rapid  development 

divided  by  a  deep  cleft  known  as  the  Fissure  of  Sylvius,  or  Sylvian  fissure. 
On  opening  this  fissnre  there  is  exposed  to  view  a  triangular  prominent  por- 
tion of  the  cerebral  mass,  called  the  Island  of  Reil,  marked  by  small  and 
short  convolutions,  or  gyri  operti.  These  convolutions,  concealed  in  the 
Sylvian  fissure,  are  amongst  the  earliest  to  be  developed,  and  are  themselves 
surrounded  by  a  very  large  convolution  forming  the  lips  of  the  Sylvian 
fissure,  and  known  as  the  Convolution  of  the  Sylvian  fissure.  Lastly,  both 
hemispheres  are  moulded  into  numerous  smooth  and  tortuous  eminences, 
also  called  convolutions  or  gyri,  and  marked  off  from  each  other  by  deep- 
furrows,  sulci,  or  anfractuosities. — Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  ii.]     ARTICULATE   SPEECH  IN  NATURAL   HISTORY.  25 

than  those  of  the  right.*  "The  first  are  already  clearly  planned," 
remarks  M.  Broca,t  "at  a  time  when  the  others  are  not  yet  per- 
ceptible." The  left  hemisphere,  on  which  depend  the  movements 
of  the  right  members  of  the  body,  is  therefore  more  precociously 
developed  than  the  opposite  one.  Thus  we  see  why  the  child, 
from  the  first  moments  of  existence,  more  readily  makes  use  of 
those  members,  whose  nervous  system  is  then  more  perfect ;  why, 
in  other  words,  he  becomes  right-handed.  The  upper  right  member,, 
being  from  the  first  stronger  and  more  apt  than  the  left,  is  on  that 
very  account  brought  more  frequently  into  play,  thus  acquiring  at 
the  outset  greater  strength  and  skill,  which  of  course  goes  on 
increasing  with  years.  Hitherto  I  have  called  those  right-handed, 
who  more  readily  make  use  of  the  right,  and  left-handed,  those 
who  more  readily  make  use  of  the  left  hand.  But  these  expres- 
sions are  drawn  from  the  outward  manif estation  of  the  phenomenon, 
which,  when  considered  in  relation  to  the  brain,  rather  than  to  its 
mechanical  agents,  teaches  us  that  the  greater  part  of  mankind  are 
naturally  left-handed,  so  far  as  the  brain  itself  is  concerned,  and 
that  some  few,  those  known  as  left-handed,  are,  on  the  contrary, 
exceptionally  right-handed  in  the  same  sense.     .     .     . 

"  The  fundamental  phenomenon  of  articulate  speech  lies  neither 
in  the  muscles,  nor  in  the  motor  nerves,  nor  in  the  motor  organs  of 
the  brain,  such  as  the  optical  layers  or  the  striate  bodies.  Were 
there  nothing  beyond  these  organs,  speech  would  be  impossible;  for 
they  exist  at  times  hi  a  perfectly  healthy  and  normal  state  in  indi- 
viduals that  have  become  totally  speechless,  or  in  idiots  who  have. 
never  been  able  either  to  learn  or  understand  a  language.  Articu- 
late Bpeech  therefore  depends  on  the  portion  of  the  brain  connected 
with  intellectual  phenomena,  of  which  the  motor  organs  of  the 
brain  are  in  a  way  nothing  but  the  agents.  Now  this  function  of 
the  intellectual  order,  governing  the,  dynamic  no  less  than  the 
mechanical  part  of  articulation,  seems  to  he  the  almost  invariable 
concomitant  of  the  convolutions  "f  the  Left  hemisphere,  since  the 

*  Gratiolet,  MM.  Bertillon,  Baillar^cr. 

f  "On  the  Beat  "f  the  Facility  of  Articulate  Speech,"  in  the  "  Bull 
de  la  Socii;tc  d'Anthropologie  do  Pane,"  1865,  p.  3S3. 


26  ARTICULATE   SPEECH  IN   NATURAL  HISTORY.     [Chap.  11. 

lesions  productive  of  speechlessness  are  nearly  always  found  to  exist 
in  this  hemisphere.     This  is  as  much  as  to  say  that,  so  far  as  speech 
is  concerned,  we  are  left-handed  (if  such  a  term  can  he  applied  to 
the  brain)  ;  we  speak,  so  to  say,  with  the  left  hemisphere.     It  is  a 
habit  Ave  acquire  from  our  earliest  infancy.     Of  all  the  things  we 
have  to  learn,  articulate  speech  is  perhaps  the  most  difficult.     Our 
other  faculties  exist,  at  least,  hi  a  rudimentary  state,  amongst  other 
animals.      33ut  although  they  undoubtedly  possess  thoughts,   and 
although  they  are  able  to  communicate  them  by  the  medium  of  a 
veritable  language,  articulate  speech  is  itself  altogether  beyond  them. 
It  is  this  intricate  and  difficult  task  that  the  child  has  to  grapple 
with  from  his  most  tender  years,  and  he  succeeds  in  mastering  it  by 
dint  of  much  groping,  and  by  brain  work  of  the  most  complicate 
order.     Xow,  this  very  task  is  imposed  on  him  at  a  period  almost 
coincident  with  those  embryonic  stages  in  which  the  left  hemisphere 
is  in  a  more  advanced  state  of  development  than  the  right.     Hence 
there  is  nothing  inconsistent  in  admitting  that  the  most  developed 
and  most  precocious  cerebral  hemisphere  is  in  a  better  position  than 
the  other  to  guide  the  execution  and  co-ordination  of  the  acts,  at 
once  intellectual  and  muscular,   that  constitute  articulate  sjieech. 
Thus  arises  the  habit  of  speaking  with  the  left  hemisphere,  a  habit 
which  at  last  becomes  so  much  a  part  of  our  nature,  that,  once 
deprived  of  the  functions  of  this  hemisphere,  we  lose  the  power  of 
making  ourselves  understood  by  speech.     But  from  this  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  left  hemisphere  is  the  exclusive  seat  of  the  abstract 
faculty  of  speech,  which  consists  in  establishing  a  fixed  relation 
between  an  idea  and  a  sign,  nor  even  of  the  special  facidty  of  arti- 
culate speech,  which    consists  in    establishing  a  definite   relation 
between  an  idea  and  an  articulate  word.     The  right  hemisphere  is 
no  more  alien  to  this  special  facidty  than  the  left,  and  the  proof  is 
that  the  individual  rendered  speechless  by  a  serious  lesion  of  the 
left  hemisphere  is,  generally  speaking,  deprived  only  of  the  power 
of  himself  reproducing  the  articulate  sounds  of  language.     He  con- 
tinues to  understand  what  is  addressed  to  him,  conseepiently  he 
perfectly  grasps  the  relations  between  the  idea  and  the  word.     In 
•other  words,  the  facidty  of   perceiving  these  relations  belongs  at 


Chap,  ii.]     ARTICULATE    SPEECH   IN   NATURAL   HISTORY.  27 

once  to  both  hemispheres,  which  in  case  of  disease  may  recipro- 
cally supplement  each  other  ;  but  the  faculty  of  expressing  these 
relations  by  co-ordinate  movements — a  habit  to  be  acquired  only 
after  long  practice — seems  to  belong  to  one  hemisphere  only,  -which 
is  nearly  always  the  left. 

<:Xow,  as  there  are  left-handed  people,  with  whom  the  innate 
pre-eminence  of  the  motor  forces  of  the  right  hemisphere  imparts 
a  natural  and  ineradicable  pre-eminence  to  the  functions  of  the 
left  hand,  in  the  same  way  we  see  how  there  may  be  a  certain 
number  of  persons  with  whom  the  natural  pre-eminence  of  the 
convolutions  of  the  right  hemisphere  will  reverse  the  order  of 
phenomena  here  indicated.  In  their  case  the  faculty  of  co-ordi- 
nating the  movements  of  articulate  speech  will,  in  consequence 
of  a  habit  contracted  hi  infancy,  devolve  definitely  on  the  right 
hemisphere.  These  exceptional  beings  in  respect  of  language  may 
be  compared  to  those  who  are  left-handed  in  respect  of  the  func- 
tions of  the  hand.     Both  alike  are  right-handed  in  respect  of  the 

brain The    existence   of   a   few    individuals    exceptionally 

speaking  with  the  right  hemisphere  would  very  well  explain  the 
exceptional  eases  in  which  speechlessness  is  the  result  of  a  lesion 
of  this  hemisphere.  It  follows  from  the  foregoing  statement  that 
a  snbject,  whose  third  left  frontal  convolution  (the  ordinary  seat 
of  articulate  speech)  happened  to  be  in  a  state  of  atrophy  from 
birth,  would  learn  t  i  jp  >ak,  and  would  speak,  with  the  third  rigid 
frontal  convolution,  just  as  a  child  born  without  the  right  hand 
becomes  as  skilful  with  the  left  hand  as  others  usually  are  with 
the  right."* 

To  this  quotation,  which  sums  up  the  state  of  the  question,  we 

have  but  one  remark  to  add.     It  is,  that  the  observations  hitherto 

led,  which  are  very  numerous,  nil  go  to  confirm  the  doctrine 

of  the  locality  of  Bpeech.      This  main  point  is  more  conclusive  than 

all  the  rest,  when  the  question  is  to  show  that  the  study  of  arti- 


*  Roc  also  Adr.  Proust,  "Alterations  de  la  Parole,"  in  the  " Bulletins  de 
..'n-  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,"  1873,  p.  786;  and  by  the  same  author, 
"De  L'Aphaaie,"  in  the  "Archives  Generates  de  Bfeaeoine,"  Tan's,  1872. 


28  ARTICULATE   SPEECH   IN  NATURAL   HISTORY.     [Chap.  ii. 

culate  speech  is  really  a  branch  of  natural  history,  as  we  have 
endeavoured  to  make  clear  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

At  the  same  time  the  possession  of  the  mere  faculty  itself  can 
tell  us  nothing  as  to  how  it  will  be  applied  by  the  individual 
endowed  with  it.  This  application  is,  in  fact,  an  art,  and  a  very 
difficult  one.  The  child  stammers  and  stutters  for  a  long  time, 
until,  thanks  to  a  certain  intellectual  development,  and  to  the  habit 
thus  acquired,  he  succeeds  at  last  in  using  his  native  faculty  like 
those  around  him.  In  other  words,  the  faculty  is  natural,  but  its 
exercise  is  an  art;  the  former  being  well  expressed  by  the  Greek 
term  ivepyeia,  as  the  latter  is  by  epyov.  Hence  those  purely  auto- 
matic acts  so  constantly  exhibited  in  the  exercise  of  the  function  in 
question,  no  less  in  its  normal  manifestations  than  in  its  pathologic 
state.* 

This  distinction  is  important,  and  by  overlooking  it  we  would 
run  the  risk  of  forming  the  most  extravagant  and  unscientific 
notions  on  the  origin  of  speech. 

In  the  second  book  of  his  history,  Herodotus  relates  that  Psam- 
meticus,  king  of  Egypt,  wishing  to  find  out  who  were  the  oldest 
inhabitants  of  the  earth,  entrusted  two  new-born  infants  to  the 
keeping  of  a  shepherd,  with  injunctions  to  bring  them  up  in 
seclusion,  and  never  allow  them  to  hear  a  human  voice.  Goats 
supplied  them  with  nourishment,  and  after  a  lapse  of  two  years 
the  shepherd  was  hailed  by  them  with  the  repeated  cry  of  /3eKosv 
Psammeticus,  on  inquiry,  ascertained  that  this  Avas  a  Phrygian 
word,  meaning  bread ;  whereupon  the  Egyptians  acknowledged  the 
right  of  the  Phrygians  to  be  considered  the  most  ancient  people. 

This  absurd  story,  which  represents  two  chUdren,  ignorant  of 
every  other  word,  inventing  and  seemingly  declining  an  un- 
doubtedly derivative  noun,  gives  us  a  tolerably  fair  estimate  of 
the  philological  criticism  of  the  ancients.  The  experience  of 
Psammeticus  implies  a  total  ignorance  of  the  essential  and  indis- 
putable fact,  that  the  exercise  of  the  lingual  faculty  is  a  difficult 

*  Onimus,  "  Dn  Langage,"  in  the  "  Bulletins  de  la  Societe  cV Anthropo- 
logic de  Paris,"  1873,  p.  759,  and  following. 


Chap,  ii.]     ARTICULATE    SPEECH   IN  NATURAL   HISTORY.  29 

art — oik-  that  is  acquired  and  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation.  To  separate  from  his  like  a  new-born  and  of  course 
utterly  inexperienced  infant,  and  expect  him  to  hammer  out  a 
glottic  system  of  his  own,  betrays  a  state  of  mind  absolutely 
devoid  of  methodic  principles.  A  language,  that  has  already 
passed  through  several  phases  of  its  existence,  cannot  be  invented ; 
for  here,  as  in  all  things  else,  the  present  is  the  result  of  the  past. 
How  could  an  isolated  individual  of  himself  possibly  again  build 
up  that  long  series  of  different  stages  that  all  languages  have  under- 
gone'? A  linguistic  system  is  not  a  thing  that  can  be  manufac- 
tured ;  it  is  formed  and  developed  of  itself  step  by  step ;  but  it  is 
formed  when  man  is  born— not  the  individual  man,  but  man  taken 
in  the  aggregate,  the  human  race,  if  you  will.  As  above  stated, 
the  appearance  of  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech  determines  the 
point  of  evolution  when  one  of  the  primates  becomes  entitled  to  the 
name  of  man. 

Schleicher,  in  his  cursive  though  solid  essay  on  the  importance 
of  language  for  the  natural  history  of  man,  and  in  his  no  less 
remarkable  treatise  on  the  Darwinian  theory  and  the  science  of 
language,  has  discussed  this  coincidence  of  the  birth  of  man  with 
the  dawn  of  articulate  speech.  "  If,"  he  says,  "  it  is  language  that 
constitutes  man,  then  our  first  progenitors  were  not  real  human 
beings,  and  did  not  become  such  till  language  was  formed  in  virtue 
of  the  development  of  the  brain  and  of  the  organs  of  speech." 
Philology,  like  all  the  other  natural  sciences,  compels  us  to  admit 
thai  man  takes  his  origin  in  the  evolution  of  inferior  forms.  We 
have  ourselves  alluded  to  this  subject  in  connection  with  the 
Hen!  communication  on  "The  Precursor  of  Man,"  made  by 
ML  de  Mortillet  to  the  French  A  jociation  for  the  Advancemenl  of 
the  Sciences,*  on  the  occasion  of  the  finding  of  the  chipped  Bints 
in  the  marl  deposits  of  the  limestone  period  at  Beauce.  According 
to  ilc  laws  of  paleontology,  actual  man  could  not  have  existed  at 
that  epoch.  The  succession  of  the  fauna  in  the- various  geological 
d   fact,  now  well  established     From   age   to  age  animals 

*  Second  Session,  held  at  Lyons  in  August,  1878. 


30  ARTICULATE   SPEECH  IN  NATURAL   HISTORY.     [Chap.  ii. 

become  modified,  and  their  varieties  fall  off  all  the  more  rapidly 
in  proportion  to  the  greater  intricacy  of  their  organisation.  Three 
times  at  least  the  fauna  have  been  renewed  since  the  formation  of 
the  above-mentioned  limestone  deposit  at  Beauce,  and  the  mamma- 
bans  contemporary  with  the  flints  in  question  belong  to  extinct 
genera,  the  precursors  of,  but  distinct  from,  those  now  living.  It 
is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  man  alone  has  escaped  from  these 
modifications — man,  above  all,  whose  organisation  is  precisely  of 
all  others  the  most  complicate.  Hence  the  chipped  flints  of  the 
middle  tertiary  epoch  would  belong  to  a  genus  the  forerunner  of 
present  man.  This  opinion  is  in  our  eyes  extremely  probable, 
and  corresponds  in  every  respect  with  the  doctrine  set  forth  by 
Schleicher  in  the  above-mentioned  treatise. 

If  it  cannot  be  admitted,  without  falling  into  metaphysical  and 
chddish  conceptions,  that  the  lingual  facidty  was  acquired  all  of  a 
sudden,  without  cause,  without  origin — hi  fact,  ex  nihilo — it  must 
be  allowed  to  be  the  result  of  a  progressive  development  of  the 
organs  of  speech.  This  assumes  before  man — fhat  is,  before  the 
being  distinguished  by  the  faculty  of  articidate  language — another 
being  on  the  way  towards  its  acquisition ;  that  is  to  say,  on  the 
way  towards  becoming  man.  As  Schleicher  teaches,  we  must  admit 
that  a  certain  number  only  of  such  beings  succeeded  in  acquiring 
the  facrdty  under  the  influence  of  favourable  circumstances,  from 
which  time  they  also  acquired  the  right  to  the  title  of  men ;  while 
others  again,  less  favoured  by  circumstances,  broke  down  in  their 
onward  progress,  and  fell  back  into  a  retrograde  inetamorphosis. 
Their  representatives  we  may  possibly  have  to  recognise  in  the 
anthropomorphic  creatures,  the  gorilla,  the  chimpanzee,  the  ourang- 
outang,  the  gibbon,  and  the  like.  We  shall  see  farther  on,  when 
passing  in  review  the  various  phases  of  languages,  that  these  dif- 
ferent stages  bear  witness,  in  the  most  unmistakable  manner,  to 
constant  progress,  to  natural  development,  and  regular  tendency 
towards  perfection. 

Thus,  then,  in  the  presence  of  this  perpetual  spectacle  of  evolu- 
tion unfolding  itself  before  our  eyes  everywhere  throughout  nature, 
we  cannot  but  acknowledge  that  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech 


Chap,  in.]  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  31 

lias  been  acquired  little  by  little,  in  virtue  of  a  progressive  deve- 
lopment of  the  organs  of  speech.  It  matters  little  whether  this 
development  he  due  to  the  various  kinds  of  selection,  natural  or 
sexual,  or  proceed  from  other  hitherto  unascertained  causes.  This, 
however,  is  a  matter  on  which  we  cannot  now  dwell.  It  belongs 
rather  to  the  general  study  of  the  variations  and  permutation  of 
species,  which  Ave  can  do  no  more  than  allude  to.  Here,  doubtless, 
as  in  everything  else,  the  function  has  had  much  to  do  with  the 
progress  of  the  organ  itself ;  but  here  also,  as  elsewhere,  the  organ, 
such  as  it  is — that  is,  the  organ  in  its  actual  form — must  have 
necessarily  proceeded  from  some  lower  organism. 

It  must  be  therefore  definitely  admitted  that  this  distinctive 
property  of  man  is  purely  relative.  We  detect  its  origin  and  its 
rudimentary  state ;  *  we  see  that  our  progenitors  accpiired  it  only  by 
degrees,  in  the  struggle  for  excellence,  in  which  they  were  destined 
to  prove  victorious. 

Bnt,  though  relative  only,  this  faculty  is  not  the  less  special  and 
peculiar  to  man,  and  it  is  in  virtue  of  it  alone  that  the  first  of  the 
primates  is  entitled  to  this  name,  which  he  has  earned  by  incessant 
struggles,  fought  out  during  the  course  of  ages. 


CHAPTER    III. 

PIBST    FOBM    OF    SPEECH — M0X0SYLLADIC — THE   ISOLATING 
LANGUAGES. 

<  )!■■  all  the  various  forms  that  languages  or  groups  of  languages 
may  present,  the  monosyllabic  is  the  simplest.     In  this  elementarj 

Estate  .-ill  the  terms  are  mere  root-words,  or  word-roots,  corresj ling 

in  their  essence  with  general  conceptions,  ami  unrestricted  by  anj 
idea*  of  person,  gender,  number;  of  time  or  mood;  of  relationship, 

*  Lamarck,  "  Philosophic)  Zoologiquc,"  ud.  Ch.  Martins,  i.  346,  Paris,  1S7:5; 
Darwin,  "  Descent  of  .Man,"  i.  p.  5U;  Hteckel,  "Histoire  do  la  Creation  dee 
Ktres  organises,"  trad,  fr.,  p,  501 . 


32  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  [Chap.  hi. 

prepositions,  or  conjunctions.  In  this  first  stage  the  language  is 
made  up  of  elements  only,  the  sense  of  which  is  essentially  general, 
without  suffixes,  prefixes,  or  any  modification  whatsoever,  by  which 
any  kind  of  relation  might  be  implied.  Hence,  in  this  first  state, 
the  simplest  of  all  others,  the  sentence  is  made  up  of  the  formula : 
root  +  root  +  root,  &c.  &c,  and  it  is  particularly  to  be  noted  that 
these  successive  roots  are  always  unchangeable. 

From  this  brief  statement  it  becomes  clear  why  the  languages  of 
this  class  have  received  the  name  of  monosyllabic  or  isolating, 
their  words  being  in  fact  composed  of  simple  monosyllabic  roots, 
isolated,  and,  as  a  rule,  independent  of  each  other. 

It  may  be  well  to  state  at  once  that  all  linguistic  systems  have 
passed  through  this  monosyllabic  period.  The  languages  whose 
forms  are  the  most  complicate,  that  is  those  liable  to  inflection — as, 
for  instance,  the  Aryan  family — when  subjected  to  scientific  analysis 
betray  unmistakable  traces  of  a  monosyllabic  origin,  remote  and 
indirect  it  may  be,  but  which  cannot  for  a  moment  be  gainsaid,  as 
-will  be  shown  in  its  proper  place.  We  shall  also  see  that  the 
intermediate  stage,  the  period  of  agglutination — that  for  instance  of 
Basque,  Japanese,  and  the  Dravidian  group — has  given  rise  to  the 
inflectional  system,  whilst  itself  deriving  from  the  lower  stage,  that 
is  the  monosyllabic — with  which  Ave  are  now  occupied. 

Not  that  it  can  be  asserted  that  all  agglutinating  idioms  must 
some  day  become  inflectional,  or  that  all  the  isolating  and  mono- 
syllabic ones  must  pass  into  the  agglutinative  state.  Many  tongues 
belonging  to  the  two  lower  orders  have  perished,  and  it  is  certain 
that  amongst  those  now  living,  whether  monosyllabic  or  agglutina- 
tive, the  greater  number  are  definitely  fixed  in  those  states.  Thus, 
it  may  be  unhesitatingly  asserted  that  Basque  and  the  idioms  of 
North  America  will  perish  in  their  present  form. 

Besides,  it  is  not  without  determining  causes  that  such  and  such 
languages  have  definitely  assumed  their  actual  forms,  whether 
monosyllabic  or  agglutinative,  while  showing  but  very  feeble  and 
rare  tendencies  to  work  into  the  higher  stage.  These  causes  may 
possibly  have  been  multiplied,  and  may  be  of  very  different  kinds, 
the  discovery  of  which  is  an  arduous  task,  not  yet  even  attempted. 


Chap,  hi.]  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  33 

Yet  it  must  in  the  end  prove  successful,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
there  is  a  cause  for  everything,  and  we  are  making  daily  advances 
from  the  known  to  the  unknown. 

Doubtless  the  most  powerful  cause  of  the  effect  here  spoken  of 
is  the  fact  that  these  languages  have  entered  on  their  liistoric  life, 
and  have  become  the  instruments  of  literature.  This  fact  of  itself 
alone  proves  that  the  language,  such  as  it  was,  felt  itself  equal  to 
the  recpiirements  of  a  developed  nationality.  In  this  sense  it  is 
not  incorrect  to  say  that,  at  Ins  first  step  into  liistoric  life,  man 
reaches  the  period  which  in  natural  history  is  called  the  period 
of  retrogressive  metamorphosis.  This,  however,  may  or  may  not 
be  confirmed  by  the  future  ;  nor  is  it  possible,  in  the  present 
state  of  scientific  knowledge,  to  indulge  in  much  more  than  purely 
conjectural  assertions  on  the  point. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  that  a  system  of  successive  roots,  all 
implying  the  most  general  ideas,  coidd  offer  but  a  very  limited 
resource  to  language.  On  the  other  hand,  the  imperious  necessity 
"f  expressing  the  various  relations  of  ideas  must  have  made  itself 
felt  at  a  very  early  stage.  But  we  have  seen  that  the  essence  of 
lie-  root-words  was  the  negation  and  even  exclusion  of  the  re- 
lational elements,  such  as  active  and  passive,  unity  and  plurality, 
pas!,  present,  and  future.  Yet  such  a  period  must  have  necessarily 
existed  It  must,  doubtless,  be  removed  hack  to  extremely  remote 
prehistoric  ages,  and  in  all  probability,  it  succeeded  itself  to  a  still 
more  primitive  period,  'luring  which  the  routs  were  formed  by  the 
inn  of  the  simple  phonetic  elements. 

In  course  of  time  an  ingenious  expedient  was  devised  asaremedy 
for  the  intolerable  defect  of  precision.     This  consisted  in  rigorously 
the  position  of  the  roots,  that  is  of  the  words,  in  the  sentence. 
Thus  syntax   was  born  before  accidence  or  grammar,  properly  so- 
called.     As  we  shall  have  to  show  farther  on,  this  expedienl   of 
rigidly  axing  the  position  of  the  words  in  the  sentence  ultimately 
gave  rise  to  the  second,  or  agglutinative  stage.      By  passing  in 
rapid  review  the  various  monosyllabic  languages,  Ave  shall  see  how 
important  result  was  turned  to  account,  as  well  as  how  its 
have  gradually  become  oh  cured. 

i) 


34  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  [Chap.  hi. 

However  this  be,  we  already  see  that  the  grammar  of  all  mono- 
syllabic or  isolating  idioms  is  necessarily  and  entirely  a  question 
of  syntax.  In  fact,  the  word  in  these  tongues  is  inflexible  ;  in 
spite  of  all  changes  of  position  in  the  sentence,  it  remains  in  variable 
and  always  the  same,  position  alone  determining  its  value  or  force, 
as  subject  or  predicate,  noun  or  adnoun,  substantive  or  verb,  and  so 
on. 

It  should  also  be  noted,  in  a  general  way,  that  intonation  is  an 
important  element  in  monosyllabic  languages,  a  point  which  does 
not  seem  to  have  received  sufficient  attention  in  the  various  works 
on  this  class  of  idioms.  Not  the  least  important  function  of  tone 
is  the  differentiation  according  to  circumstances  of  a  large  number 
of  homophones,  that  is  of  words  identical  in  form,  but  different 
in  their  respective  applications,  a  point  we  shall  presently  have  to 
enter  into  somewhat  more  fully. 

The  principal  monosyllabic  languages — that  is,  those  that  con- 
stitute or  represent  an  independent  glottic  system — are  five  in 
number:  CJrinese,  Annamese,  Siamese,  Burman,  and  Tibetan.  To 
these,  however,  must  be  added  a  considerable  number  of  isolated 
idioms  in  Transgangetic  or  Further  India,  such  as  the  Pegu  in 
British  Burma,  and  the  Kassia,  confined  to  a  small  district  in  the 
south  of  Assam,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Brahmaputra,  and  about 
two  hundred  miles  from  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  These, 
however,  are  not  of  sufficient  importance  to  claim  further  notice 
here. 

It  is  not  our  intention,  nor  would  it  here  be  possible,  to  treat  in 
ininiite  detail  all  these  different  languages.  It  will  be  enough  to 
give  some  general  information  respecting  each  of  them,  while 
dwelling  more  particularly  on  Chinese,  the  most  characteristic  of  all 
the  languages  of  this  class. 

§  1. — Chinese. 

Its  three  great  divisions  are:  the  Mandarine,  vernacular  in  the 
central  provinces,  and  employed  as  a  cultivated  language  through- 
out the  empire  ;  the  dialect  of  Canton ;  and  that  of  Fo-Kien.     All 


Chap,  hi.]  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  35 

three,  while  belonging  to  the  same  language,  are  vastly  different,  so 
that  the  natives  of  the  northern  and  southern  provinces  have  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  understanding  each  other. 

The  study  of  Chinese  is  composed  of  two  clearly-defined 
branches — the  writing  system,  and  the  language  itself.  Let  us 
first  speak  of  the  latter. 

As  already  stated,  it  is  purely  and  simply  syntactic.  The  first 
rock  it  had  to  avoid,  in  common  with  all  the  isolating  tongues,  was 
the  constant  uncertainty  of  meaning,  arising  from  the  multiplicity 
of  senses  which  one  and  the  same  form  is  susceptible  of.  Thus  the 
form  tao  means  indifferently :  to  reach,  to  ravish,  to  cover,  tanner, 
corn,  to  lead,  way,  without  reckoning  two  or  three  other  senses  in 
which  it  may  he  taken.  The  syllable  lu  stands  for  :  to  turn  aside, 
vehicle,  precious  stone,  dew,  to  forge,  way,  besides  three  or  four  others. 

It  was  a  somewhat  artless,  yet  very  exact  expedient,  to  place 

side  by  side  two  terms  capable  of  being  synonymous  in  some  one 

of  their  meanings,  as  for  instance  tao  and  lu,  both  answering  to  the 

idea  of  way.     Thus,  while  tao  by  itself  might  leave  us  to  choose 

between  nine  or  ten  senses,  tao  lu  can  mean  nothing  but  way  or 

road.      Is  this,  as  has  been  assumed,  a  case  of  real  composition1? 

By  no   means,  for  a  compound  term  always  implies  relationship, 

while  we  have  here  nothing  but  a  heaping-up  of  homonyms.     Not 

even  the  juxtaposition  of  two  such  words  as  f/i.  father,  and   mu, 

mother  =  parents,  can  be  looked  on  as  forming  a  true  compound, 

though  at  the  first   glance  it  may  seem  to  be  one;   and  so  with 

yuan,  distant,  and  Jan,  near  =  distance.     In  point  of  fact,  in  this 

of  coupling  of  words  together,  the  first  no  more  depends  on  the 

ond  do.s  on  the  first. 

It  may  well  1"'  supposed  that  gender  also  can  be  determined 
only  by  means  of  a  second  term.  Recourse,  for  instance,  is  had  to 
nan,  male,  masculine  ;  niu,  female,  feminine  whence  nan  tse  =  aon; 
,..',/  tse  =s daughter ;  niu  jin  =  woman.  In  the  case  of  animals,  the 
distinguishing  terms  are  different,  but  the  process  is  the  same. 
Nothing  can  be  simpler  than  fhis  expedient,  which  we  shall 
meet  with  in  the  agglutinating  languages,  such  as  Wolof, 
Japanese,  &c,  and  even   in  the  most  highly-developed  forms  of 

D  2 


3G  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  [Chap.  hi. 

speech.  In  Latin,  for  instance,  there  occur  the  forms  mas  cards, 
femina  canis,  femina  porcus,  anguis  fe.mina,  and  many  analogous 
expressions.  Thus  it  is  that  many  phenomena  peculiar  to  the  first 
phase  of  speech  have  struggled  on  through  the  course  of  ages  into 
the  last  and  highest  stage  of  all. 

^Number  is  expressed,  in  principle,  by  the  general  context  only. 
Still,  at  times  use  is  made  of  some  word  expressive  of  multitude, 
totality  :  tojin  =  &  crowd  of  people,  many  persons,  people. 

The  subject  is  at  once  denoted  by  the  fact  that  it  is  always  the 
first  word  in  the  proposition.  The  direct  object  also,  in  simple 
sentences,  is  indicated  by  its  always  following  the  word  expressing 
the  action,  much  as  we  should  say,  "James  strikes  John,"  and 
"  John  strikes  James."  But  in  other  circumstances  the  direct 
object  is  determined  by  the  employment  of  certain  accessory  words  ; 
which  help-words,  however,  can  in  no  case  be  looked  on  as  true 
prepositions.  They  are  always  pure  root-words,  the  only  kind  of 
words  known*  in  Chinese,  as  already  remarked ;  but  that  they 
always  and  constantly  retain  their  proper  and  independent  value- 
in  the  mind  of  those  who  employ  them  can  scarcely  be.  admitted. 
This  value  becomes  gradually  weakened  and  ever  more  subordinate  ; 
and  it  is  this  very  subordination  that  in  time  converts  isolating 
into  agglutinating  languages. 

The  ideas  of  locality,  of  dativity,  instrumentality,  privation, 
and  the  like,  are  also  conveyed  either  by  the  aid  of  certain  words,  or 
by  position  in  the  sentence.  It  will,  doubtless,  be  enough  to  indicate 
this  general  fact,  without  entering  into  the  analysis  of  a  series  of 
examples,  which  may  be  found  in  special  works  on  the  subject. 
The  genitive  is  clearly  expressed  by  placing  the  leading  term  after 
the  relative,  as  in  Hen  tse,  heaven  son  =  sun  of  heaven;  or  in  the. 
Mandarine  language,  by  introducing  the  syllable  ti  between  the  two 
words  placed  in  the  same  order  as  before. 

The  conceptions  of  quality  and  comparison  are  expressed  in 
perfectly  analogous  ways.  Lastly,  that  of  action,  on  which  the 
whole  proposition  turns,  is  also  denoted  by  a  purely  syntactical 
process,  or  else  will  have  to  be  deduced  from  the  general  sense 
of  the  context.     Thus,  there  is  nothing  in  Chinese  answering  to 


Chap,  hi.]  MONOSYLLABIC  LANGUAGES.  37 

our  imperfect  forms,  and  the  future  also  must  at  times  be  evolved 
out  of  the  context.  As  to  the  moods,  the  Romance  conditional  is 
recognised  by  its  syntactical  position,  while  the  subjunctive  and 
the  optative  are  eked  out  by  auxiliaries. 

In  Chinese  there  is  no  more  room  for  a  verb  than  for  a  noun, 
and  it  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  that  syntax  alone  defines  the 
sense.  Out  of  its  place  in  the  sentence  the  word  is  nothing  but, 
a  root  taken  in  the  vaguest  possible  way.  In  position  alone,  it 
awakens  precise  ideas  of  individuality,  of  quality,  relation,  action. 
Thus,  for  instance,  the  single  syllable,  ngan  means  to  obtain  rest, 
to  enjoy  rest,  in  the  manner  stated,  repose.  So  with  ta-=great, 
greatly,  greatness,  to  make  great',  another  =  round,  a  ball,  to  round 
off,  in  a  circle;  another  =  to  be,  \ruLy,  he,  the  letter,  thus. 

As  above  stated,  and  as  we  shall  have  again  to  repeat,  the  use 
of  accessory  words,  in  order  to  impart  the  recpiired  precision  to 
the  principal  terms,  is  the  path  that  leads  from  the  monosyllabic 
to  the  agglutinative  state.  The  meaning  of  these  auxiliaries 
becomes  gradually  obscured,  until  the  time  comes  when  they 
acquire  a  value  partly  arbitrary.  But  there  was  a  period,  the 
golden  age,  so  to  say,  of  the  monosyllabic  system,  when  their  true 
sense,  their  full  and  independent  signification,  suggested  itself  at 
once  to  the  mind.  This  is  a  fact  that  the  Chinese  themselves 
have  observed  with  astonishing  shrewdness,  when  they  divided 
the  roots  into  two  distinct  classes — the  full  and  the  empty  words 
(chi-tsen  and  lin-tsen).  By  the  first,  they  understood  those  roots 
that  retained  their  Ml  and  independent  meaning ;  the  roots  that 
reappear  in  a  translation  as  nouns  and  verbs.  They  called  empty 
words  those  roots  whose  proper  value  was  becoming  gradually 
obscured,  and  which,  little  by  little,  acquired  the  function  of 
fi-ging  precisely  the  extremely  vague  idea  of  the  full  words,  whose 
primitive  sense  was  still  fully  preserved  In  this  they  showed  a 
remarkable  power  of  discernment,  which,  hetter  than  many  other 
discoveries,  gave,  proof  of  a  care  degree  of  perspicacity.  "What 
is  grammar?"  the  Chinese  teacher  asks  his  pupil.     "It  is  a  verj 

Useful    art,"    replies   the    pupil;    "an   art     that    teaches    us   to    (lis 
liii'juish  between  the  full  and  empty  word-.'' 


38  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  [Chap.  in. 

The  different  tones  occurring  not  very  frequently  in  Chinese, 
form  so  many  methods  of  accentuation,  extremely  useful  where 
it  "becomes  necessary  to  distinguish  the  meanings,  at  times  very 
different,  of  syllables  made  up  of  the  same  phonetic  elements. 
The  Chinese  vocabulary,  of  almost  Academic  authority,  gives 
42,000  different  ideographic  symbols,  each  of  which  has  its  pro- 
nunciation sharply  determined.  But  as  the  spoken  language 
possesses  only  about  1,200  consonances,  "  it  follows  that  the  same 
utterance   must    be    given    on   an    average   to    thirty    characters" 

(d'Hervey  Saint-Denys).     From  this  we   see  that  if    intonation 

has  not  been  able  to  meet  every  difficulty,  it  was,  at  all  events,- 
of  great  service.  This  circumstance,  as  stated,  is  common  to  all  the 
monosyllabic  tongues.  Special  Avorks  quote  a  number  of  examples 
which  need  not  here  be  repeated,  and  without  entering  into  further 
details,  it  will  perhaps  suffice  to  describe  this  ingenious  and  very 
practical  process. 

The  Chinese  phonetic  system  is  not  very  intricate,  without,  how- 
ever, ranking  with  the  most  simple.  Amongst  the  consonants  g,  d, 
and  b  are  missing  in  the  Mandarine  dialect,  but  d  oidy  in  that  of 
Fo-Kien ;  but  in  the  latter  the  sibilants  are  less  varied  than  in  the 
former.  The  absence  of  r  is  a  well-known  fact.  The  vowels  call 
for  no  special  remark  :  they  are  often  met  with  in  the  form  of 
diphthongs,  and  frequently  also  nasalised. 

It  is  a  characteristic  fact  that  the  monosyllables  begin  with  a 
consonant  and  close  with  a  vowel,  the  signs  n  or  ng,  met  with  at 
the  end  of  Chinese  words  transcribed  in  Soman  letters,  merely 
indicating  the  nasalisation  of  the  preceding  vowels.  There  is  but 
one  solitary  word  that  has  escaped  from  this  strict  rule  of  an  initial 
consonant  and  final  vowel — ml  =  two  and  ear. 

Purely  graphic  questions  do  not  come  Avithin  the  province  of 
philology.  They  form  a  special  study,  doubtless  very  interesting, 
but  quite  distinct  and  independent.  It  may  still  be  useful  to  say  a 
feAV  Avords  on  the  Chinese  graphic  system,  and  to  sIioav  Avith  what 
skill  this  people  have  contrived  to  adapt  to  their  singular  speech 
a  collection  of  characters  seemingly  but  little  suited  for  the  service 
required  of  them. 


Chap,  in.]  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  39 

Considering  the  great  number  of  homophones  in  a  monosyllabic 
Language,  that  is,  of  syllables  formed  of  the  same  phonetic  elements, 
but  answering  to  totally  different  ideas,  it  became  a  serious  difficulty 
how  to  determine  the  various  meanings  of  such  monads,  in  a  written 
system.  The  Chinese  solved  the  puzzle  by  employing  two  sorts  of  signs. 
The  first  is  composed  of  nothing  but  images,  or  true  designs — 
the  picture  of  a  tree,  a  mountain,  or  a  dog — at  times  employed  inde- 
pendently, at  others,  coupled  together  to  reproduce  a  more  or  less 
complex  idea.  Thus,  the  image  of  water  and  that  of  the  eye  placed 
in  juxtaposition  convey  the  idea  of  tears.  A  door  and  an  ear  give 
the  nation  of  listt  ning  or  hearing;  while  the  sun  and  the  moon  stand 
for  brightness. 

Amongst  the  true  designs  must  also  be  included  the  grouping- 
together  of  lines  or  points,  expressing  either  number — one,  two, 
three — or  superiority,  inferiority,  inclination  to  one  side  or  another, 
and  so  on.  There  was  a  time  when  these  ideographs,  thanks  to  the 
correctness  of  their  drawing,  directly  awakened  the  conception  they 
were  intended  to  represent.  But  these  simple  and  truthful  symbols 
gradually  lost  their  original  outlines,  and  in  the  signs  now  standing 
for  the  notions  of  dog,  sun,  moon,  mountain,  we  can  no  longer,  at 
the  first  glance,  detect  the  primitive  images  that  directly  awakened 

different  ideas.  The  characters  of  this  first  category  have  been 
c  dculated  at  least  at  about  200.* 

The   B ad   class   is   more  intricate,    involving  two  (dements,  a 

phonetic  and  an  ideographic.    From  all  that  has  been  said,  it  will  be 

v  understood  that  the  object  of  the  latter  is  to  determine,  the, 
at  times,  very  diverse  value  of  the  phonetic  element.  This  last,  if 
left  standing  alone,  might  leave  the  reader's  mind  wavering  between 

i  iplicity  of  homophones.    The  ideographic  element  puts  an  end 
.:,,     f     ssting  a  definite  conception,  or  at  least  a 

,:■■,-  of  i  i  1 1.  Thus,  the  character  taken  in  it--  totality  denotes 
both  the  pronunciation  and  the  meaning,  each  part  being  comple- 

ixy  to  the  other.    I  m  ■  of  them,  however,  is  looked  on  as  of  no 
i  its    phonetic  ralue  is  concerned,  the  utterance 

•  Abel  Renrasat,  "Beoherches  sur  l'Origine  ei  Is  Formation  de  la  Langue 
Ghinoige,"  ia  "  M£  uoirea  de  L'Acad.  dee  [ni  oriptiona  ei  Belles-lettres,"  1820. 


40  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  [Chap.  hi. 

being  determined  by  the  other  alone.  If,  for  instance,  the  sign  cheu, 
vessel,  is  placed  before  those  representing  huo,  fire,  and  ma,  horse, 
these  last  two  will  lose  their  phonetic  value,  and  the  whole  will  be 
read  off  as  cheu,  but  this  cheu  will  no  longer  mean  vessel.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  character  following  it,  its  meaning  wdl  be  either 
the  flickering  of  a  flame  or  a  particular  kind  of  horse.* 

The  Chinese  have  limited  to  214  the  number  of  signs  which  they 
call  "tribunals,"  and  to  which  European  grammarians  have  given 
the  name  of  "keys"  or  "radicals."  Besides  the  1G9  ideographs, 
whose  object  in  association  with  a  non-phonetic  element  has  been 
explained  above,  these  214  keys  comprise  a  small  number  of  signs 
that  are  purely  graphic,  or  simple  pictures.  They  contain  the  ele- 
ments of  all  the  Chinese  characters,  of  which  there  are  about 
50,000  (43,49G  according  to  a  calculation  based  on  the  Imperial 
Chinese  Dictionary),  and  to  the  keys  all  the  rest  must,  therefore,. 
he  subordinate.  This  is  Avhat  the  Chinese,  have  done  in  then  lexical 
classification,  taking  care  to  arrange  the  keys  in  consecutive  order, 
according  as  they  are  composed  of  one,  two,  three,  or  more  strokes, 
the  last  of  all  (jah,  a  musical  instrument)  being  made  up  of  seven- 
teen such  strokes.  This  arbitrary  classification,  it  is  evident,  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  language  itself.  In  fact,  as  above  stated, 
the  study  of  Chinese  embraces  two  distinct  parts — that  of  the  lan- 
guage, and  the  written  system.  Hence  the  serious  difficulties  met 
with  by  those  beginning  to  study  Chinese. 

Let  us  add  that  all  the  signs  may  on  certain  occasions  be 
employed  as  purely  phonetic  symbols.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the 
Chinese  are  able  to  write  foreign  words  or  names,  such  as  'la  si  'la, 
Asia ;  'In  ki  li,  English ;  117  hi  to  Via,  Victoria.  We  also  know 
that  it  was  from  the  Chinese  characters,  treated  as  phonetic  signs, 
that  was  derived  the  Japanese  system  of  writing,  while  the 
Japanese  language  is  so  totally  different  from  the  Chinese. 

*  Stephan  Endlichers  Chinese  Grammar  is  the  simplest  we  are  ac- 
quainted with,  though  too  often  displaying  a  lack  of  criticism. — "  Anfangs- 
griinde  der  Chinesischen  Gratnmatik,"  Vienna,  1845.  The  rules  for  the  posi- 
tion of  the  words  in  the  sentence  may  be  profitably  studied  in  the  "  Syntax 
nouvelle  de  la  Langue  Chinoise,"  by  Stanislas  Julien.    Paris,  1S69. 


Chap,  hi.]  MONOSYLLABIC    LANGUAGES.  41 

As  to  the  Chinese  signs  themselves,  we  have  already  seen  that 
they  arose  out  of  a  genuine  pictorial  system.  They  are  still  met  in 
this  primitive  form  on  some  old  monuments,  so  that  it  becomes 
possible  step  by  step  to  follow  the  gradual  changes  they  have, 
undergone  during  the  course  of  ages.  Several  graphic  systems 
have  been  very  clearly  determined  and  employed  during  periods  of 
many  centuries,  owing  their  more  or  less  serious  subsequent  modifi- 
cations entirely  to  accidental  circumstances.  There,  moreover,  exist 
among  the  Chinese  several  other  kinds  of  writing,  amongst  which 
is  a  very  rapid  cursive  hand  in  common  use. 

But  we  cannot  enter  further  into  the  question  of  the  Chinese  cha- 
racters, which  is  merely  incidental  to  the  subject,  as  we  are  not 
concerned  with  graphic  systems,  but  with  the  structure  and  phonetic 
elements  of  speech. 

§  2. — Annamese. 

This  is  the  language  of  the  extreme  eastern  portion  of  Further  India, 
that  is,  of  Cochin-China  on  the  south  and  of  Tonkin  on  the  north. 
It  is  separated,  at  least  towards  the  south-west,  from  the  Siamese  by 
the  Cambodian,  on  the  nature  of  which  it  is  still  very  difficult  to 
form  an  opinion.  A  very  interesting  ethnographic  chart  of  the 
south-eastern  portion  of  this  peninsula  has  been  drawn  up  by 
Francis  ( rarnier.* 

The  Annamese  language  is  absolutely  independent  of  Chinese, 
both  in  its  phonetic  system  and  its  roots,  that  is  to  say,  its  words, 
since  the  rout  constitutes  the  word  itself  in  all  monosyllabic  tongues. 
Gender  and  number  are  expressed,  as  in  Chinese,  by  adding  to  the 
principal  syllable  others  with  the  meaning  of  male,  female,  nil. 
many,  and  the  like.  The  adjective  is  recognised  by  its  position 
after  the  noun  it  qualifies.  Lastly,  in  tie'  verb,  tense  and  mood  are 
denoted  by  the  simultaneous  employment  of  the  root  on  which  the 
Sentence  turn-,  and  of  others,  the  general  meaning  of  which  is  that 
of  past,  future,  and  so  on. 

What  has  been  said   of    the    structure    of    Chinese    is,    therefore, 

*  "  Journal  Afiiatique,''  Aout-Siptcinlirc,  1N7-. 


42  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  [Chap.  in. 

applicable  in  all  its  details  to  Annamese.  Here,  also,  the  tonic  system 
plays  a  chief  part,  as  in  Chinese,  distinguishing  words,  the  utterance 
of  which  would  he  exactly  alike,  although  their  sense  may  he 
quite  different.  There  are  in  Annamese  six  tones — the  acute,  very 
hard  to  describe  ;  the  interrogative ;  the  pitched  or  rising,  not  very 
different  from  the  interrogative;  the  subdued  or  lowering;  the  grave; 
and  the  equal  or  uniform. 

The  Annamite  writing  system  is  figurative,  that  is,  ideographic, 
and  was  at  a  remote  period  borrowed  from  the  Chinese,  but  has 
undergone  serious  modifications  and  numerous  additions. 

The  language  itself  has  also  borrowed  largely  from  Chinese, 
especially  from  the  southern  dialect.  This  fact  has  deceived  some 
writers,  who  have  endeavoured  to  compare  the  two  languages,  and 
derive  them  from  one  common  source.  But  however  great  be 
the  number  of  such  borrowed  words,  they  have  nothing  to  do  Avith 
the  essence  of  the  language,  or  with  its  proper  roots.  These,  even 
were  they  much  less  numerous  than  they  are,  would  still  suffice  to 
establish  the  undoubted  originality  and  independence  of  Annamese. 

§  3. — Siamese  or  Thai. 

Siamese  occupies  the  region  to  the  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Siam,  ex- 
tending to  some  distance  into  the  interior,  and  also  along  the  western 
shore  of  the  gulf.  Towards  the  east,  it  comes  in  contact  with  the 
still  but  little-known  language  of  Cambodia ;  and  towards  the  west, 
with  the  Burmese,  also  a  monosyllabic  language.  The  name  Thai, 
or  Siamese,  is  peculiar  to  a  certain  people,  but  has  been  extended  to 
the  neighbouring  and  kindred  races,  as,  for  instance,  to  those  of 
Laos  to  the  north. 

The  Siamese  phonetic  system  is  one  of  the  richest,  especially  in 
aspirates  and  sibilants.  Its  grammar,  like  the  Chinese  and  Anna- 
mese, is  purely  monosyllabic,  and  it  has  four  different  intonations, 
serving  to  distinguish  words  of  like  form  but  different  meaning. 

§  I. — Barman. 

Spoken  in'  the  north-west  of  the  peninsula,  between  Siamese  and 
the  Aryan  languages  of  India.     Its  phonetic  elements  are  not  so 


Chap,  hi.]  MONOSYLLABIC   LANGUAGES.  43 

numerous  as  the  Siamese,  and  it  reckons  but  one  sibilant.  Its 
intonations  also  are  less  numerous  than  the  Chinese  and  Annamese, 
whilst  its  grammatical  expedients  and  processes  are  absolutely  the 

same. 

§  5. — Tibetan. 

Tibet  is  indebted  to  the  Buddhism  of  India  for  most  of  its  intel- 
lectual culture,  including  its  alphabet  and  its  not  inconsiderable 
literature.  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  Tibetan  literature  may  have 
been  before  the  great  religious  movement  entirely  revolutionised 
it.  There  are  no  documents  dating  from  that  period,  and  the 
Buddhist  missionaries'  first  care  was  to  translate  into  Tibetan  the 
religious  works  composed  in  Sanskrit  (or  Pali).  The  alphabet 
employed  by  them,  and  which  is  still  in  use,  was  (a  modification 
of  the  Devanagari)  current  in  Northern  India.  Its  origin  is  per- 
fectly  clear ;  and  anyone  who  can  read  Devanagari  may  in  a  few 
hours  learn  Tibetan,  which  derives  directly  from  it. 

The  different  authors  that  have  written  on  Tibetan  have  not 
made  its  monosyllabic  character  sufficiently  clear.  The  processes 
employed  by  it  are  analogous  to  those  made  use  of  in  Chinese, 
Annamese,  and  the  other  isolating  languages.  Thus  it  possesses 
neither  number  nor  gender,  expressing  the  latter  by  the  addition  of 
tier  word  meaning  male  or  female:  ra  pho,  he-goat;  ra  ma, 
s  >at.  And  so  with  number,  denoted  by  the  help  of  some  second 
term,  generally  implying  the  idea  of  all  or  multitude.  The  pre- 
tended Tibetan  cas;  -  are  no  more  cases  than  are  those  that  have 
be  d  attributed  to  <  !hin<  se  and  Annamese.  II.  re  also  the  full  root 
is  determined  by  words  which  become  empty,  that  is,  which  lose  a 
of  their  primary  sense,  and  serve  as  adjuncts  to  the  principal 
word. 

In  itself  the  term  i  no  more  a  simple  noun  (or  adjective)  than 
it  is  a  verb,  its  nature  bi  ing  in  each  case  determined  either  by  its 
>ii  in  the  :-  ntence  or  by  the  addition  of  some  empty  root. 

After  what  has  been  said  of  the  monosyllabic  tongues  in  general, 
and  of  Chinese  in  partic  to  go  more  minutely 

into  the  structure  of  Tibetan,     li  does  no!  differ  from  that  of  the 


4A         SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  it. 

other  isolating  tongues,  and  Ave  must  not  be  led  astray  by  what 
grammarians  without  judgment  tell  us  of  its  pretended  gender, 
number,  eases,  persons,  moods,  and  tenses.  These  are  merely  so 
many  ways  of  speaking,  which  shoidd  not  be  taken  literally ;  and 
all  traces  of  which  will  disappear  in  the  comparative  syntax  of  the 
various  monosyllabic  languages,  which  will  doubtless  soon  be  com- 
posed. Anyone  undertaking  this  task,  without  attempting  to 
reduce  to  a  common  form  the  essentially  different  roots  of  these 
idioms,  would  supply  one  of  the  first  desiderata  of  philology.  It 
would  above  all  be  necessary  that  the  idea  be  thoroughly  dis- 
seminated that,  in  order  to  study  any  monosyllabic  language 
whatsoever,  we  forget  for  a  moment  all  that  we  know  concern- 
in<*  the  structure  and  processes  of  our  flexional  forms  of  speech. 
Unfortunately,  this  woidd  seem  to  be  no  slight  difficulty. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

SECOND  FORM  OF  SPEECH AGGLUTINATION. 

Tlie  Agglutinating  Languages. 

Of  all  known  languages,  those  that  by  their  form  belong  to  this 
second  class  are  by  far  the  most  numerous.  Beyond  all  manner 
of  doubt  they  belong  to  a  great  many  stocks,  very  distinct,  inde- 
pendent, and  incapable  of  being  reduced  to  a  common  source. 
Professed  etymologists  may  have  attempted  to  bring  them  back  to 
one  origin,  herein  more  or  less  wittingly  ministering  to  the  ten- 
dency of  theological  systems ;  but  their  efforts  have  been  crowned 
with  no  better  success  than  they  deserved.  Doubtless,  all  etymo- 
logists will  lend  themselves  to  a  comparison  of  Magyar  and  Basque, 
of  Tamil  and  Algonquin,  of  Japanese  and  the  Australian  dialects. 
But  what  is  etymology?  We  have  already  explained  that  it  is  a 
mass  of  fictions  and  delusions,  an  intellectual  trifling,  a  constant 
defiance  of  the  most  rudimentary  principles  of  method,  and  most 
frequently  of  the  first  elements  of  common  sense. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION".        45 

§  1. — What  is  Agglutination. 

While  in  the  idioms  of  the  first  form,  Chinese,  Siamese,  &c, 
the  words  are  invariably  monosyllabic  forms,  following  each  other 
without  the  least  fusion  or  connection,  and  each  retaining  its 
proper  force;  in  those  of  the  second  category  many  elements  are 
placed  in  close  association,  in  a  way  agglutinating,  or  agglomerating 
together,  whence  the  name  of  agglutinating,  or  agglomerating 
languages.  Of  these  diverse  elements,  one  alone  contains  the 
leading  idea,  the  main  thought  or  conception,  the  others  losing 
their  independent  value  altogether.  They  certainly  still  retain 
a  personal  or  individual  sense,  hut  this  is  now  entirely  relative. 
The  element  preserving  its  primitive  force,  strike,  take,  keep, 
becomes  surrounded  by  others  determining  its  manner  of  being 
or  manner  of  action,  while  these  other  elements  themselves, 
thus  tacked  on  to  the  primary  one,  play  the  exclusive  part  of  so 
determining  its  manner  of  being  or  action. 

Making  i;,  the  initial  of  the  word  "root,"  stand  for  the  essen- 
tial element  of  the.  word,  and  rrr,  for  those  that  have  sunk  to 
the  condition  of  mere  elements  of  relationship,  we  may  assume 
in  an  agglutinating  language  the  following  formulae:  rE,  where 
the  primary  root  is  preceded  by  a  prefix  of  relationship;  Rr  Avhere 
it  is  followed  by  a  ^uliix  ;  u  R  i;,  where  it  stands  between  two  rela- 
tional terms  ;   r  R  r  r,  and  so  on. 

Two  or  three  examples  from  the  Magyar  Language  will  make 
this  explanation  clear.  In  the  indicative  present  kert'ek,  you  pray, 
leer  is  the  vol,  thai  is  the  element  whose  meaning  remains 
unclouded,  while  t'ek  is  the  relational  element,  denoting  person. 
Hence  the  formula  here  is  R  h.  Iii  the  present  optative  kernetek, 
may  you  pray,  where  lie  ne  is  also  a  relational  sign,  showing  that 
ilc-  genera]  and  prevailing  idea  of  Jeer  is  taken  in  an  optative  sense, 
the  formula  \\  ill  he  I;  it  k. 

Now  )el    ua  take  the  p,ol    ■_,!,-,  to    shili,  and    hi    us    consider   some 

of  [\  called  derivatives,  which,  in  fad,  are  nothing  hut  cases 
of  agglutination  or  juxtaposition.  They  put  in  the  clearest  light 
the   real  nature  of  this  proce    .     Eere  are  a  few  of  its  forms  in 


46        SECOND   FOEM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

the  third  person  singular,  where  the  element  implying  lie  or  she 
is  understood  :  zdrhat,  he  can  shut,  formula  R  R ;  zdrogat,  lie  often 
shuts,  same  formula  ;  zdrogathat,  he  can  often  shut,  formula  Rrr; 
zdrat,  he  causes  to  shut,  formula  Er;  zdratgat,  he  causes  often  to 
shut,  formula  Err;  zdratgathat,  he  can  often  cause  to  shut, 
formula  R  B  R  R. 

Thus  we  see  that  two  characteristic  facts  distinguish  the  agglu- 
tinating from  the  isolating  class.  In  the  former  the  word  is  no 
longer  composed  of  the  root  alone,  Irat  is  formed  by  the  union  of 
several  roots.  In  the  second  place,  one  only  of  these  roots  thus 
agglomerated  retains  its  real  value,  in  the  others  the  individual 
meaning  becoming  obscured  and  passing  into  the  second  rank. 
They  serve  now  only  to  fix  precisely  the  manner  of  being  or  of 
action  of  the  leading  root,  whose  primitive  meaning  remains 
unaffected. 

The  primary  root  being  thus  retained  in  its  primitive  form,  the 
others  lose  their  independence,  and  fall  into  their  place  side  by- 
side  of  each  other;  and  this  is  precisely  what  constitutes  agglutina- 
tion. Here  the  word  is  formed  by  the  union  of  several  different 
elements  or  roots,  and  thus  becomes  complex.  It  is  this  that 
distinguishes  it  from  the  word  as  conceived  in  the  isolating  lan- 
guages, where  it  is  composed  of  the  root  itself  and  of  that  alone. 

In  any  case,  let  us  state  at  once  that  in  the  agglutinating  tongues 
there  is  no  true  declension  or  conjugation.  The  use  of  these 
terms,  as  well  as  of  the  corresponding  words  case,  nominative, 
accusative,  genitive,  and  so  on,  when  speaking  of  Japanese,  Basque, 
Wolof,  &c,  is  merely  a  conventional  way  of  expressing  oneself, 
not,  perhaps,  to  be  absolutely  condemned,  but  yet  to  be  taken  with 
great  reserve. 

We  have  stated  that  the  agglutinating  idioms  are  very  nume- 
rous, in  fact  embracing  the  great  majority  of  known  lan- 
guages. We  shall  now  proceed  to  notice  at  least  such  of  them 
as  seem  best  to  illustrate  the  principal  agglutinating  systems. 
Some  we  shall  have  to  treat  very  summarily,  such  as  the  Corean 
and  those  of  the  African  negroes.  But  we  shall  have  to  enter 
more  fully  into  the  details  of  some  others,  such  as  the  different 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         47 

languages  of  the  Uralo-Altaic  group,  the  Basque  and  the  American 

languages.  The  relatively  greater  importance  of  the  latter  "will 
probably  be  a  sufficient  justification  of  the  greater  attention  they 
must  command  at  our  hands. 

After  mentioning  the  principal  agglutinating  systems,  we  shall 
have  a  word  to  say  on  the  "  Turanian "  theory,  on  the  pretended 
"  Turanian  languages,"  and  on  the  principal  speculations  that  this 
theory  has  given  rise  to. 

We  shall  begin  with  the  agglomerating  languages  of  Africa — 
those  of  the  Hottentots,  the  Bushmen,  the  true  Negroes,  the  Kafirs, 
the  Fida  tribes,  and  the  Nubians.  Proceeding  eastwards,  we  shall 
then  treat  of  the  Negritos,  the  Papuas,  and  the  Australians. 
Returning  northwards,  we  shall  meet  the  Malayo-Polynesian 
system  ;  ami  still  farther  north,  the  Japanese  and  Corean,  on  the 
extreme  east  of  the  Asiatic  continent.  Eetracing  our  steps  west- 
wards, we  shall  take  the  Dravidian  group  in  the  south  of  India ; 
the  Uralo-Altaic  family  in  Asia  and  Europe;  the  Bascpie  at  the 
foot  of  the  Western  Pyrenees ;  and,  crossing  the  Atlantic,  the 
languages  of  the  New  World.  AVe  shall  conclude  with  the  idioms 
of  the  '  acasus,  and  certain  other  tongues  either  little  known  or 
not  yet  classified. 

The  first  part  of  this  category  is  purely  geographical,  but  aw 
have  had  certain  grammatical  reasons  fur  arranging  consecutively 
the  Dravidian,  the  Uralo-AltaiV,  Basque,  ami  American  system--. 
It  would  be,  perhaps,  difficult  here  to  explain  these  reasons,  but 
they  will  become  apparent  later  on,  and  more  particularly  when  we 
com»;  t"  treat  of  tie-  American  languages. 

§  2. — South  African  Languages. 
Under  this  heading  we  do  not  include  the  idioms  of  the  "  Bantu" 

;:;,  which  will  be  treated  of  farther  on,  under  the  nai >f 

By  South  African,  as  b  re  u  ed,  we  under- 
stand the  languages  of  the  Bottentots  and  of  the  Bushmen  only. 

(1)  Hottentot 

Tin;  origin  of  bhifl  race  i    involved  in  greal  oh  aor  is  that 


48         SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

of  their  language  at  all  1  tetter  known.  Attempts  have  unsuccess- 
fully been  made  to  group  it  with  the  Hametic  system,  Old  Egyptian, 
Coptic,  etc.  ;  but,  as  it  stands,  it  seems  to  be  isolated  and  inde- 
pendent of  all  other  tongues.     It  is,  however,  clearly  agglutinating. 

Of  the  Hottentot  there  are  three  dialects :  Nam.a  or  Namaqua, 
Khora,  and  Cape  Hottentot. 

Of  these,  the  first,  spoken  by  some  twenty  thousand  persons,  is 
the  most  important.  Converging  northwards  on  the  Herero  (a 
Bantu  idiom,  of  which  presently),  and  limited  on  the  south  by 
the  Orange  River,  Narhaqua  Land  is  bounded  westwards  by  the 
Atlantic,  and  eastwards  by  the  Kalahari  desert.* 

Khora,  or  Klmrana,  is  spoken  much  farther  to  the  east,  in  the 
district  watered  by  the  Vaal,  Modder,  and  Caledon,  about  the  29° 
south  latitude.  It  bears  a  certain  affinity  to  the  Namaqua  tongue, 
but  is  rapidly  dying  out. 

Cape.  Hottentot  is  well-nigh  extinct.  It  was  formerly  diffused 
throughout  the  colony,  bordering  north-eastwards  on  the  idioms  of 
the  Kafir  system,  northwards  on  the  Khora,  and  on  the  north- 
west on  the  Xamaqua.  At  present  there  remain  but  a  small 
number  of  Griquas,  Avho  still  speak  Hottentot  amongst  them- 
selves, Dutch,  English,  and  Kafir  having  elsewhere  almost  entirely 
extinguished  it. 

However,  all  these  dialects  differ  but  little  from  each  other,  so 
that  the  Griquas  have  no  great  difficulty  in  understanding  the 
Namaqua  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

The  Hottentot  in  his  own  language  calls  himself  Khoikhoib,  in 
the  plural  Khoikhoin,  a  word  which  means  "man  of  men,"  or 
"friend  of  friends." — (Halvn,  op.  cit.,  p.  8). 

The  Namaqua  phonetics  are  very  varied,  possessing  a  very  deli- 
cately graduated  series  of  vowels,  all  of  which  are  capable  of  being 
nasalised.  There  are  also  a  considerable  number  of  diphthongs — 
about  twelve  altogether. 

It  is  no  less  rich  in  consonants,  besides  the  ordinary  explosives 

*  Th.  Hahn,  "Die  Sprache  dor  Nama,"  Leipzig,  1870;  Tyndall,  "A 
Grammar  and  Vocabulary  of  the  Namaqua-Hottentot  Language ;"  Bleek, 
"A  Comparative  Grammar  of  the  South  African  Languages,"  London,  1869. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         49 

(p,  t,  k,  and  b,  d,  g),  including  k,  h,  and  several  other  gutturals  ;  the 
sibilants  s  and  z  (as  in  sister,  zeal) ;  a  peculiar  nasal,  somewhat 
resembling  the  nasal  sound  heard  in  the  German  word  enge;  v,  r,  h, 
and  a  palatal,  which,  however,  does  not  occur  in  the  Namaqua 
dialect. 

To  these  various  consonants  must  be  added  four  others  of  a 
special  order — the  so-called  clicks.  The  dental  click,  denoted  by 
a  vertical  stroke  |  ,  or,  according  to  some  writers,  by  the  letter  c ; 
the  palatal,  marked  by  two  horizontal  bars  crossing  a  vertical 
one,  =|±,  or  by  the  letter  v;  the  cerebral,  represented  by  a  sign  of 
exclamation,  ! ,  or  by  the  letter  q ;  the  lateral,  expressed  by  two 
vertical  bars,  ||,  or  by  the  letter  x.  These  click-letters,  though 
sounding  strange  to  an  European  ear,  are  yet  capable  of  being 
imitated.  They  will  be  found  fully  described  in  special  grammars, 
all,  at  least,  except  the  fourth,  which  is  very  peculiar,  and  is 
so  called  because  the  side  teeth  play  an  important  part  in  its 
utterance. 

The  click-letters  may  precede  the  gutturals  n,  It,  and  all  the 
vowels,  and  they  occur  moreover  every  moment — in  fact,  almost 
in  every  word. 

Word-formation  is  extremely  simple:  root  followed  by  a  suffix 
— that  is,  by  some  derivative  element. 

Let  us  observe  at  once  that  these  derivative  elements  have  each  a 

fold  form:  one  for  the  word  when  subject;  another  for  the 

word  when  object,  whether  direct  or  indirect — the  first  receiving 

the  name  of  subject  or,  the  second  that  of  i<hj,:<-tlrv  •  the  third  form 

is  the  vocative  or  init rjective. 

in,  these  suffixes  have  a  singular,  a  dual,  and  a  plural  form, 
making  for  one  and  the  same  element  altogether  nine  forms j  as 
there  may  he  a  subjective  singular,  an  objective  dual,  an  inter- 
jective  plural  and  so  on. 

We   find   on  a   the  other  hand   confronted  by  a  triple 

supposition  :  The  derivative  element  of  the  root  may  he  an  element 

of  t!r  :  o  i  (J,  we  two,  we),  ")■  of  the  second  (thou,  ye  two, 

common  or  third    per  ona]  elemenl  j    and   on   il,i  j 

depends  the  nature  of  the  suffix  itself. 

i: 


Mas. 

Fem. 

Neut. 

Subjective 

...       b 

s 

i 

Objective 

ba 

sa 

e 

Subjective 

kha     . . 

ra 

kha  or  va. 

Objective 

kha    . . 

ra 

•         »;           j) 

Subjective 

...       gu       .. 

ti 

n 

Objective 

ga 

.       te 

na 

50         SECOND  FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

In  the  first  two  cases,  words  arc  formed  with  the  sense,  for 
instance,  of  "  I  king,  I  who  am  king,"  "  thou  who  art  queen," 
and  so  on.  In  a  word,  the  element,  as  already  stated,  changes 
nine  times  for  one  and  the  same  word,  according  as  the  form  is 
suhjective,  objective,  interjective,  singular,  dual,  or  plural. 

Let  us  add  that  the  suffix  varies  according  as  the  individual  is 
masculine,  feminine,  or  neuter. 

Passing  from  words  derived  hy  an  element  of  the  first  or  second 
person  to  those  formed  by  a  common  or  impersonal  suffix,  Ave  find 
the  subjoined  endings  in  the  jSTamaqua  dialect,  to  which  these 
remarks  are  restricted  : 


Singular 

Dual 

Plural 


Glancing  at  this  scheme,  we  at  once  see  that  the  word  taras, 
woman,  is  subjective,  singular  feminine.  In  the  expression  "  I  see 
the  woman,"  it  will  become  tarasa ;  in  "  the  two  women  say,"  it 
will  be  tarara  ;  and  so  on.  The  form  Tchoib,  man,  Avill  be  used  in 
the  sentences,  "  the  man  says,"  "  the  man  strikes  ;  "  in  "  the  men 
say,"  "  the  men  strike,"  it  will  be  Jchoigu,  and  in  "  they  strike  the 
men,"  Jckoigci.  All  this,  doubtless,  requires  a  little  attention  and 
practice,  but  is  otherwise  easy  enough. 

Secondary  derivation  is  effected  by  adding  fresh  suffixes  to  those 
already  attached  to  the  root ;  and  it  is  also  by  means  of  fresh 
elements  thus  added  to  the  end  of  the  word  that  are  expressed  the 
relations  of  locative,  ablative,  instrument,  and  the  like.  Adjectives 
also  are  derived  from  substantives  by  the  same  process. 

Causatives,  diminutives,  intensitives,  desideratives,  are  all  formed 
by  adding  secondary  or  derivative  elements  to  the  principal  root. 
As  to  the  pretended  verbal  forms,  they  simply  consist  in  the 
agglomeration  of  elements,  one  expressing  person,  another  the 
principal  root,  a  third,  time — present,  past,  or  future. 


Chap,   it.]     SECOND  FORM  OF  SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.  51 

Lastly,  Hottentot,  like  the  monosyllabic  tongues,  distinguishes 
its  homophones  by  uttering  them  in  various  tones.  Of  these  tones 
there  are  three,  as  in  the  word  ikaib,  meaning  either  darkness, 
place,  or  linen,  according  to  its  intonation.  Such  homophones, 
however,  are  not  very  numerous. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  true  accent  falls  invariably  on  the  radical 
syllable,  that  is,  on  the  first,  the  Hottentot  formula  always  being : 
root  +  suffix,  or  root  +  suffixes.  In  the  case  of  compound  words, 
the  accent  falls  on  the  principal  component. 

(2)  Bushman  Dialects. 
The  Bushmen,  who  are  scattered  in  a  great  number  of  small 
tribes  over  the  country,  have  no  generic  name  for  their  race.     The 
Hottentots  call  them  San,  that  is,  aboriginal  or  indigenous;  and 
the  d  ion  of  Bushmen  was  first  given  them  by  the  Dutch. 

But   little   is   known   of    the    various    idioms    spoken   by   the 

Bushmen.     If  there  is  any  common  affinity  between  them,  great 

differences  at  least  prevail  amongst  some  of  their  tribes,  Avhile  the 

attempt  to  connect  them  with  the  Hottentots  has  been  unsuccessful. 

■  as  we  know  them,  the  Bushmen  dialects  are,  hi  fact,  quite 

independent  of  those  of  the  Hottentots.     In  any  case,  they  belong 

to  tli  aating  order  of  languages,  and  are  said  to  possess  six 

click-letters. 

It  is  not  easy  to  fix  their  geographical  limits.     They  are  met 

with  ist  of  the  Herero  district,  north-east  of  JSTamaqualand, 

and  north  of  the  Kalahari  desert;  while   some  tribes  arc   round 

south  of  this  desert  and  of  the  Orange  River,  in  the  nor,: 

'  Colony.     In  fact,  according  to   Fritsch,  they  must  have  at 

id  over  the  whole  of  South  Africa,  from  the  Cape  to 

the  '/.  mb  -i,  and  even  beyond  that  river,*  whence  th  -. 

■  iually  driven  by  the  pr     sure  of  more  powerful  i 

Languages  of  th.  African  Negroes. 

Tl,<   d  irth  of  Africa  is  occupied  pi  rtly  by  Arabic,  which  be] 
to  the  Si  initio,  and  partly  by  Berber,  which  belongs  to  the  Bamitic 

*  "Dio  Eingcborcncn  Sfid-Afrika's."     Brcslau,  L872. 

i:   •_' 


52  SECOND   FOEM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.    [Chap.  iv. 

family.  On  the  east  coast  there  are  also  Semitic  tongues,  more 
especially  related  to  the  Arahic  hranch  ;  and  farther  south,  that  is, 
immediately  north  of  the  equator,  some  Hamitic  idioms,  grouped 
under  the  general  designation  of  Ethiopian  languages.  The  whole 
of  the  south-fast,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  south-west  coast,  are 
occupied  by  the  Kafir  tongues,  forming  a  distinct  family  in  them- 
selves ;  while  the  Bushman  and  Hottentot  dialects  stretch  thence 
southwards  to  the  Cape.  In  the  centre  of  the  continent,  going 
from  the  south  of  Upper  Egypt  westwards,  we  meet  with  the 
Nubian  and  Eida  groups,  neither  of  which  have  anything  in 
common  with  the  others  here  mentioned. 

The  rest  of  Africa,  that  is,  the  middle  of  the  west  coast,  and  a 
great  portion  of  the  centre,  is  in  possession  of  idioms  spoken  by  the 
negroes  proper,  who  are  anthropologically  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  Kafir  race. 

The  number  of  these  negro  dialects  is  considerable.  Some  of 
them  are  closely  enough  related  to  constitute  together  certain  well- 
defined  groups,  though  the  common  origin  of  these  various  groups 
cannot  yet  be  scientifically  proved.  They  all,  doubtless,  belong  to 
the  agglutinating  order,  but  this  in  no  way  implies  a  common 
source.  Notwithstanding  numerous  reciprocal  borrowings,  both 
their  vocabularies,  and  especially  their  grammars,  differ  greatly. 
In  the  actual  state  of  our  information,  we  may  say  that  there  are  a 
certain  number  of  negro  languages,  or  groups  of  languages,  entirely 
distinct  and  independent  of  each  other. 

Fr.  Midler  reckons  twenty-one  of  such  groups,  but  whether  this 
number  will  be  increased  or  diminished  by  further  research,  it  is 
impossible  to  say.  For  the  present  it  will  be  enough  to  point  out 
that  the  expression  "  Languages  of  the  African  Negroes,"  forming 
the  title  of  this  paragraph,  is  purely  geographical,  involving  no 
necessary  affinity  between  these  languages  themselves.  We  shall 
take  them  as  nearly  as  possible  in  their  geographical  order,  proceed- 
ing from  the  north  southwards,  and  from  the  west  eastwards. 

(1)   Wolof. 
There  are  a  number  of  grammatical  treatises  on  this  language, 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND  FORM    OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.  53 

Avliose  accidence  and  vocabulary  are  tolerably  well  known.  Still 
all  these  works  are  deficient  in  method  and  critical  acumen.  They 
supply  us  with  the  materials  for  a  scientific  Wolof  grammar ;  but  such 
a  work  has  yet  to  be  written,  nor  can  it  be  looked  for  from  the 
missionaries  labouring  in  this  field.  Their  numerous  publications 
betray  the  most  complete  ignorance  of  the  principles  of  the  modern 
science  of  language,  and  they  seem  to  be  wholly  unconscious  of  the 
true  nature  of  an  agglutinating  tongue. 

The  phonetics  of  the  Wolof  are  tolerably  rich,  possessing,  besides 
the  short  vowels  a,  e  (sharp),  %,  o,  u,  the  long  sounds  d,  1,  6,  u,  e 
and  a  sharp  e,  also  long,  besides  another  e,  seemingly  answering  to 
the  e  of  the  French  je,  te,  Is,  and  a  short  a,  which  seems  intermediate 
between  the  French  a  and  e.  In  a  few  words  there  occurs  a  nasal  a, 
answering  to  an  in  the  French  grand;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  vowel  pre- 
ceding n  is  not  nasal.  Wolof  also  possesses  the  French  u  as  in  tu, 
hi,  but  only  in  words  borrowed  from  that  language. 

The  consonantal  system  is  equally  rich,  possessing,  besides  the 
three  pairs  of  simple  explosives  (k  g  ;t  d;p  b),  a  t  and  a  d  liquid, 
Bribed  by  /'  d';  the  nasals  m  n  n'  (gn  French)  and  a  nasal 
ibed  as  guttural,  which  is  both  initial,  medial,  and  final; 
further,  a  very  soft  U  and  a  guttural  h',  answering  to  the  German  ch 
in  nach  ;  y,  r,  I,  the  hard  fricative  s  and  a  z,  for  words  taken  from 
the  French  ;  lastly,  the  fricative /and  aw,  very  difficult  to  be  grasped 
by  European  ears.  The  groups  mp,  mb,  nt,  nd,  ng  are  very  frequent, 
but  they  are  mere  combinations,  not  distinct  sounds. 

Nouns  and  adjectives  are  undeclinable,  as  in  all  agglutinating 
ies,  ill"  case  endings  of  inflexional  languages  being  expressed 
by  particles  or  prepositions.  When,  however,  the  direct  and  indi- 
ted objed  come  together,  as  in  "Give  a  book  to  John,"  the  particle 
jsed  at  all,  recourse  being  then  had  to  a  purely  syn- 
in  the  isolating  Idioms.  In  fact,  the  sense  is 
deduced  from  the  position  o\  the  word  in  the  sentence,  the  indirect 
a!  way.-:  preceding  the  direct  object.  Nouns  dependent  on  other  nouns, 
Q  ■•  |  he  i   i  '    are  placed  after  them,  the  conjunction  u 

intervening,  though  this  particle  is  sometimes  understood. 

i  j  ,,.].  .  .  addition  of  some  other  term  meaning 


54  SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

male  or  female,  connected  with  the  qualified  word  by  means  of  a 
relational  particle.  The  form  of  the  word  is  otherwise  invariable, 
even  for  number,  the  plural  also  being  denoted  by  the  particle  i, 
which,  in  the  case  of  a  noun  Avith  a  complement  is  inserted  between 
the  two  words,  thus  replacing  the  above-mentioned  particle  u,  this 
latter  being  restricted  to  the  singular. 

The  noun  is  often  accompanied  by  a  determinating  suffixed 
particle,  composed  of  a  consonant  and  a  vowel.  The  consonant 
varies  according  to  a  euphonic  law,  regulated  by  the  nature  of  the 
initial  letter  of  the  word  so  determined,  as  thus  :  bdy-ba  =  father-the, 
fds-vd  =  horse-the,  kar-ga  =  house-the.  The  vowel  also  varies  ac- 
cording as  the  determined  object  is  present  (i),  near,  but  not 
present  (u),  at  a  distance  (a),  at  a  great  distance  (a).  Thus,  Mr-go, 
as  above,  implies  that  the  house  spoken  of  is  at  a  distance;  whereas 
it  woidd  become  Mr-gi  were  the  house  close  by,  and  so  on.  In  the 
plural,  again,  the  suffixed  particle  is  also  modified  according  to  the 
four  cases  of  greater  or  less  distance ;  thus  becoming  yi,  yu,  &c,  and 
in  certain  cases,  n'i  n'u  (n  liquid) :  kar-yi  =  ihe  houses  close  at 
hand,  &c.  This  determinating  plural  particle  yi,  yd,  yu,  obviously 
contains  the  above-mentioned  plural  sign  i,  whence  we  may  con- 
clude that  in  the  singular  particles  gi,  bd,  kit,  &c,  the  real  deter- 
minating element  is  the  vowel,  though  the  part  played  by  the 
initial  consonant  g,  b,  k,  &c,  has  not  yet  been  clearly  ascer- 
tained. 

By  means  of  these  hints  the  learner  begins  to  understand  such 
elementary  expressions  as  :  fas  u  bur  =  horse-of-king ;  fas  u  bur-bd  = 
the  horse-of-the  king ;  fas  u  bur-yd  =  the  horse-of-the  kings  ;  fas  i 
bur  =  horses-of-king ;  fas  i  bur-ba  =  the  horses-of-the  king;  fas  i 
bur-yd  =  tKe  horses-of-the  kings.  Apart  from  the  determinating 
element  of  this  suffixed  particle,  the  process  is  very  elementary  and 
easdy  grasped.  From  these  examples  it  appears  that  the  first  noun 
does  not  take  the  determinating  sign,  so  that  if  the  second  is  unde- 
termined neither  of  them  take  it :  fas  u  bur;  dah'  u  »//r/  =  butter-of- 
cow. 

Another  means  of  still  more  closely  determining  the  word,  is  by 
transposing  the  determinating  particle :    bi-bdy,   bd-bdy,  bu-bdy  = 


Chap,  iv.]      SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        55 

this  father;  or  "by  suffixing  the  particle  U  to  the  word  already 
determined  by  the  usual  process  :  bdy-bi-le,  bdy-bu-lc,  &c,  and  even 
bile-bay,  bvrle-bay,  and  so  on  ;  these  forms  of  course  becoming  in  the 
plural  yi-bdy,  My-yi-U  =  these  fathers. 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  Wolof  verb  is  no  more  capable 
of  being  conjugated,  than  is  the  noun  of  being  declined.  The  so- 
called  verbal  forms  occurring  in  the  endless  schemes  of  Wolof 
grammars,  drawn  up  on  Greek  and  Latin  models,  are  nothing  but 
an  accumulation  of  independent  words  placed  side  by  side,  as  in  all 
other  agglutinating  tongues.  The  root  always  retains  its  general  or 
abstract  force,  and  to  it  are  tacked  on,  either  as  prefixes  or  suffixes, 
certain  particles  expressing  the  various  relational  ideas  of  past, 
future,  conditional,  subjunctive,  &c.  In  all  this  there  is  no  real 
change,  the  words  so  placed  in  juxtaposition  never  varying  in  form. 
Hence,  in  this  so-called  conjugation  we  have  merely  to  supply  the 
required  pronouns,  /,  thou,  he,  &c.  ;  which,  however,  are  placed, 
according  to  circumstances,  in  various  positions  in  this  agglomeration 
of  words. 

The  number  of  such  combinations  is  considerable,  two-thirds  of 
all  Wolof  grammars  being  usually  devoted  to  this  pretended  con- 
jugation. Yet  all  that  is  needed,  is  a  knowledge  of  a  certain 
number  of  accessory  words  or  particles,  and  of  the  place  they 
occupy  in  the  general  scheme.  Thus,  the  particle  on,  answering  to 
tin'  imperfect  tense,  is  placed  after  the  principal  word  and  before  the 
personal  pronoun :  mus-ad  =  have-1 ;  mas-on-nd  =  having-was-L 
!  he  forms,  however,  are  usually  much  more  complicated  than  this, 
at  first  sight  appearing  very  intricate,  and  often  involving  six,  seven, 
eight,  or  even  more  accessory  elements.  Thus  mds-dgiirnu-won-sqpa- 
lu  =  Ave  have  not  yet  made  a  show  of  loving,  is  but  one  com- 
pound  term,  made  up  of  sundry  agglutinated  particles,  all  fused 
her,  liui  each  playing  a  fixed  part,  and  occupying  a  settled  place 
in  the  agglomeration.  Hie  last  three  elements  mean  "not  to  make 
a  show  of  Loving  ;"  the  first  (mas)  i  spresses  the  action  Itself  \  agu 
implies  that  the  action  has  no1  yel  begun;  nu  is  the  persona] 
element,  and  won  the  i  ign  of  the  imperfect.  We  may  add  that  this 
is  by  no  means  an  exceptional  case,  and   man)-  other   far  more 


56         SECOND   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

intricate  examples  might  be  quoted,  but  tbe  formative  process  is 
always  tbe  same. 

Of  all  tbe  pure  Negro  tongues,  Wolof  is  one  of  the  most 
important,  so  far  as  concerns  the  interests  of  European  civilisation. 
Tbe  French  Senegal  settlements  are  in  daily  contact  with  the 
Wolofs,  who  have  borrowed  a  number  of  words  from  the  French 
language.  All  along  the  river  Senegal,  Wolof  borders  on  the  Arabic 
spoken  on  its  right  bank,  and  stretches  southwards  over  a  large 
portion  of  Senegambia.  It  is  the  current  speech  of  Jolof,  Kayor, 
Walo,  Dakar,  and  is  also  spoken  hi  Baol,  Sine,  and  Gambia. 

(2)  Alcalde  Group. 

Mandingan  occupies  the  southern  portion  of  Senegambia,  and 
the  region  of  Upper  Guinea.  Bambara  is  spoken  a  little  more  to 
the  north,  and  east  of  central  Senegambia,  To  the  same  family 
belong  the  Susu,  Vei,  Tene,  Gbandi,  Landoro,  Mende,  Gbese,  Toma, 
and  Memo. 

(3)  Fdup  Group 

Also  occupies  the  southern  parts  of  Senegambia  and  the  districts 
a  little  farther  south.  It  touches  at  various  points  on  the 
Mandingan,  and  comprises  a  number  of  dialects,  such  as  Feltip,  on 
the  Gambia ;  Filliam,  on  the  Casamanze  ;  Bola,  Severe,  Pepel,  in 
the  Bissagos  islands ;  Biafada,  on  the  river  Geba ;  Pajade,  Baga, 
Kallum,  Timne,  Bidlom,  Sherbro,  Kissi. 

(4)  Sonra'i 
Occupies  an  isolated  position  on  the  Niger,  south-east  of  Tim- 
buctu,  about  the  15°  north  latitude.  It  is  therefore  spoken  in  a 
portion  of  South  Sahara,  its  domain  confining  on  that  of  the 
Tuaric,  which  stretches  more  northwards.  Speaking  generally,  it 
may  be  said  to  be  spoken  in  the  district  lying  between  Timbuctu 
and  Agades. 

(5)  Hausa,  or  Haivsa, 
"Which  is  split  up  into  a  considerable  number  of  dialects,  may 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         57 

be  described  as  the  proper  language  of  Soudan  (or,  more  correctly, 
of  the  region  lying  between  the  Niger  on  the  west  and  Lake  Chad 
on  the  east).  No  other  idiom  of  Central  Africa  is  so  diffused  as 
the  Hausa,  which  is  the  commercial  speech  of  this  part  of  the 
continent.  It  is  now  tolerably  well  known,  thanks  especially  to 
the  writings  of  the  English  missionary,  the  Rev.  James  F.  Schon. 

Its  vowel  system  is  rich;  besides  a,  i,  u,  long  and  short,  possess- 
ing o,  e,  an  e  and  an  i  very  short,  not  easily  distinguished  from 
each  other,  a  labial  intermediate  between  a  and  o,  which  may  be 
lengthened,  lastly  a  and  e  obscure  and  guttural.  The  consonantal 
system  is  less  complicated,  consisting  of  p,  t,  h ;  b,  d,  g,  m,  u  ;  r, 
1  ;  /,  s,  z,  s'  (sh)  ;  j  French ;  ch,  j,  a;  and  a  nasal  analogous  to 
the  English  wj  in  king. 

Gender  is  distinguished  not  only  by  some  secondary  term  mean- 
in-  male  or  female,  but  also  by  the  ending  ia  or  nia,  the  force  of 
which  has  not  yet  been  quite  cleared  up  :  sa— bull;  sania  =  covr. 
Its  origin,  however,  is  doubtless  the  same  as  that  of  the  other 
process.  Number  also  is  denoted  either  by  a  particle,  of  which 
there  are,  several  varieties,  or  by  doubling  the  last  syllable  of  the 
word.  In  practice  this  process  presents  certain  difficulties,  but 
is  in  itself  simple  and  intelligible  enough. 

There  is  no  true  declension  in  Hausa  any  more  than  in  any  other 
fcinating  tongues.  The  various  relations  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  casi  3  are  expressed  either  by  the  position  of  the  word  in  the 
ace,  or  by  the  help  of  particles  joined  to  the  noun  :  masa  = 
to  him;  marta—her;  garesa  =  oi  or  from  him  The  subject  and 
the  object  are  also  denoted  by  their  position,  the  latter  naturally 
following  the  former.  Lastly,  the  idea  of  possession  is  expressed 
by  placing  the  principal  word  immediately  before  the  other,  or 
else  by  connecting  the  two  with  the  particle  na  <>r  n  masculine,  ta 
feminine. 

in   other  agglutinating    idioms,  the    pretended    moods   and 

tenses  of  the   Hai  are  formed  by  means  of  distinct  words 

that  have   reached   the  stage  of  particles.     The  Bystem  seems  at 

lir-i  somewhat  complex,  but  it  presents  no  difficulties  that  cannol 

rercome  by  means  of  a  little  scientific  analysis. 


58  SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

(G)  Bornu  Group 
Is  situated  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lake  Chad,  to  the  east  of 
the  Hausa,  and  comprises  some  half-dozen  dialects,  amongst  which 
Kanem,  Tcda   (or   Tebu),  both  spoken  by  Tebu  tribes,  north  and 
north-east  of  the  lake,  Kanuri,  Murio,  and  Nguru. 

(7)  Kruli  Group, 
Including  Grebo  (Basa,  &c),  brings  us  to   the  "Windward  and 
Grain  Coast,  near  the  river  St.  Paul  (in  Liberia). 

(8)  Ewe  or  Ife  Group 

Occupies  the  western  portion  of  the  Gidf  of  Guinea,  about  the 
7°  north  latitude,  and  somewhat  farther  north.  It  embraces  four 
idioms,  all  akin  to  each  other— Ewe,  Yoruba,  Oji  (or  O-tyi),  and 
Gel  or  AJcra. 

Besides  these  groups  there  remain  to  be  mentioned  the  Ibo  and 
Nupe  spoken,  the  first  in  the  north,  the  second  in  the  south  of 
the  Niger  Delta. 

Michi,  an  isolated  idiom,  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  foregoing, 
about  the  7°  north  latitude. 

Mosgu,  Batta,  and  Lor/one,  still  farther  east,  south  of  the  Bomu 
group  and  of  Lake  Chad,  and  forming  a  group  of  themselves. 

Baghirmi,  to  the  east  of  the  preceding,  in  the  very  heart  of 
Africa,  and  stretching  south-east  from  Lake  Chad  (in  the  direction 
of  Darfur). 

Maba,  in  the  same  direction,  and  unconnected  with  the  sur- 
rounding dialects. 

Lastly,  eastwards  of  Central  Africa,  south  of  Nubia,  and  west  of 
Abyssinia,  another  negro  group,  known  as  that  of  the  Upper  Nile, 
and  comprising  the  ShiluJc,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Bahr-el-Abiad ; 
Dinka,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  same  river ;  Nuer,  immediately 
below  Shiluk  and  Bari,  about  the  5°  north  latitude  (or  between 
Gondokoro  and  the  great  equatorial  lake  system). 

In  conclusion,  let  us  repeat  that  the  various  groups  of  languages, 
spoken  by  the  negroes  of  Senegambia,  Soudan,  and  Upper  Guinea, 
are  all  independent  of  each  other.     We  have  here  mentioned  the 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         59 

majority  of  the  one-and-twenty  groups  hitherto  recognised;  but 
groups  do  not  constitute  so  many  branches  or  ramifications  of 
some  one  linguistic  family.  They  are  no  doubt  all  agglutinating,  but, 
as  already  stated,  this  analogy  establishes  no  sort  of  affinity  between 
languages  so  constituted.  In  a  word,  Wolof,  Hausa,  Sonra'i,  and 
Ban  are  no  more  cognate  tongues  than  are  Basque  and  Japanese,  or 
Magyar  and  Tamil. 

§  4. — Bantu,  or  Kafir  Family. 

Occupies  a  wide  domain,  roughly  comprising  the  whole  of  the 
smith-east  of  the  continent,  reaching  southwards  to  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  Cape,  and  northwards  a  little  beyond  the  equator, 
where  it  meets  the  Ethiopian  group  of  the  Hamitic  family,  and  the 
dialects  of  the  negroes  of  Guinea,  thus  spreading  north  and  south 
over  about  one-half  of  the  whole  continent. 

About  one-fourth  of  the  natives  of  Africa  speak  the  various 
dialects  of  this  family.  These  are  very  numerous,  and  are  derived 
all  from  one  common  source,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  far  from 
being  the  case  with  the  languages  spoken  by  the  negro  tribes  in  the 
•  and  west  of  the  continent.  The  mother-tongue  of  this  great 
family  is  utterly  unknown,  but  it  may  possibly  yet  be  restored  in 
all  its  essential  grammatical  and  lexical  features. 

The  general  name  of  Kafir,  often  given  to  the  Bantu  family,  is 
purely  conventional  The  word,  which  is  Arabic,  and  means 
inficL  /,  was  at  first  applied  to  all  the  tribes  of  south-east  Africa,  but 
gradually  limited,  until  it  has  now  come  to  be  restricted  to 
those  stretching  from  the  north-east  of  Cape  Colony  to  Delagoa 
llav.  Bence  it  cannot  with  propriety  be  any  longer  applied  to 
as  the  Kisuaheli,  spoken  in  Zanzibar,  or  to  the 
Fernandian,  in  the  <  lulf  of  <  ruin<  a. 

The  term  Bantu  is  in  every  way  preferable.     It  is  the  plural  of. 
.old  meaning  man,  lias  the  sense  of  men,  population, people, 
and  may  readily  be  extended  to  the  language  itself. 

The  phonetic  j  tern  of  the  whole  family  ;  one  of  the  richest, 
nor  is  it  lacking  in  harmony.  A  a  rule  words  are  modified  not  by 
suffixing,  but  by  prefixin  ate  of  relationship. 


60      SECOND   FOEM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        [Chap.  iv. 

It  is  divided  into  three  great  branches — a  western,  a  central,  and 

an  eastern,  each  of  which  is  again  subdivided  into  a  number  of 

minor  groups.     They  are  thus  classified  by  Fr.  Midler  and  Halm*  : 

Eastern  Branch. — Languages  of  the  Zanzibar  district ;  languages 

of  the  Zambesi ;  Zulu-Kafir  group. 

Central  Branch. — Sechuana  and  Tegeza. 

Western  Branch. — Kongo  ;  Herero,  &c. 

The  principal  dialects  of  the  north-eastern  or  Zanzibar  district 
are  the  Ki-Pokumo,  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  equator ;  Ki-Suaheli, 
about  the  5°  south  latitude ;  Ki-Nika,  Ki-Kamba,  Ki-Hiau,  about 
the  13°  south  latitude.  Of  the  tribes  speaking  these  idioms,  the 
Suaheli  is  the  best  known. 

Somewhat  farther  south  are  the  Zambesi  languages,  Tette,  Sena, 
and  others.  Makua,  a  little  more  to  the  north-east,  is  spoken  in  the 
Mozambique  country. 

Still  farther  south  are  the  Kafir  proper  and  the  Zulu,  closely 
related  to  each  other,  and  tolerably  well  known  through  the  writings 
of  the  English  missionaries. t  Zulu  is  spoken  by  the  Amazulus,  in 
Zulu-land  and  Natal ;  Kafir,  by  the  Amakhosas  or  Kafirs  proper, 
south  of  Natal.  To  these  is  related  the  Fingu,  spoken  by  the 
Amafingus,  the  Amasuazis,  and  some  other  obscure  tribes.  Thus 
this  Kafir  group  reaches  from  Cape  Colony  to  Delagoa  Bay. 

Of  the  two  languages  of  the  central  group,  Tegeza  is  the  least 
known. 

Sechuana,  with  which  we  are  much  better  acquainted,  is  the 
language  of  the  Bechuanas,  north  of  the  20°  and  south  of  the 
25°  latitude.  It  includes  eastwards  the  Sesuto,  spoken  by  the 
Basutos ;  westwards,  the  Serolowj  and  Seldapi,  spoken  by  the 
Barolongs  and  the  Bahlapis. 

Coming  to  the  west  or  Atlantic  coast,  we  find  the  Bantu  system 
less  prevalent  here  than  on  the  east  coast. 

Northwards  it  stretches  four  or  five  degrees  beyond  the  equator, 
thus  bordering  on  the  languages  of  the  Negroes  proper. 

The  northern  division  of    this   western   branch    comprises    the 

*   "  Grundzuge  einer  Grammatik  cles  Herero,"  p.  5.     Berlin,  1857. 
f  Appleyard,  "  The  Kafir  Language."     London,  1850. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND    FORM   OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         61 

dialects  of  Fernando  Po,  Mpongwe,  Di-Kele,  Isubu,  Dualla,  and 
Kongo,  which  last  is  the  most  important  of  the  group. 

More  to  the  south  are  the  Bunda  (in  Angola),  Benguda,  Londa, 
and  Serero,  abont  the  19°  south  latitude,  and  reaching  southwards 
as  far  as  the  Hottentot  Namaqua  dialect. 

Bleek  classifies  all  these  languages  somewhat  differently,  dividing 
them  into  three  distinct  branches.* 

The  first  comprises  Kafir,  Zhdu,  Sehlapi,  Sesuto,  and  Tegeza. 

The  second  embraces  five  subdivisions  :  1,  Tette,  Sena,  Mafcua, 
Ki^Hiau;  2,  Ki-Kamba,  Kir-Nika,  Ki-Suaheli,  Ki-Sambala;  3, 
Baydye  (in  the  interior);  4,  Herero,  Sindonga  (spoken  by  the 
Ovambo),  Nano  (in  Benguela),  Angola  ;  5,  Kongo,  Mpongwe. 

The  third  division  includes  the  Di-Kele,  Benga  (in  the  islands  of 
Corisco  Bay),  Dualla,  Isubu,  Fernandian. 

It  is  difficult  to  venture  an  opinion  on  this  arrangement,  many 
languages  in  the  interior  of  South  Africa  being  unknown.  But 
fresh  discoveries  and  researches  will  doubtless  enable  us  to  classify 
more  exactly  the  idioms  already  known. 

Tin-  phonetics  of  the  Bantu  family  call  for  no  particular  remark, 
except  that  the  vowels  are  liable  to  contraction,  to  euphonic  sup- 
rions,  and  to  rather  numerous  variations,  but  always  in  accord- 
ance with  well-determined  principles.  In  this  respect  the  Kafir 
idioms  an-  more  refined  than  many  other  agglutinating  tongues; 
instances  occurring  in  them  of  true  vowel  harmony,  that  is  of  the 
vowel  of  one  syllable  assimilating  to  that  of  another  in  the  same 

word. 

The  consonantal  system  seems  somewhat  complex,  owing  especially 
to  the  great  number  of  double  co  ,  whose  first  element  is  a 

nasal  :  nt,  nd,  mp,  &c.  <fec. 

On  the  other  hand  we  again  meet  here  with  some  of  the  click- 
rsdescribed  when  treating  of  the  Hottentot  phonetics.      The 
K,.,i,  fco  have  borrowed  them  from  their  Hottentot  neigh- 

bours, as  they  occur  in  those  Kafir  dialects  only  thai  border  on  the 
for  in  tance,   in  those  of  the  Zulu  branch. 

*  Bleek,  "  A  Comparative  Grammar  of  South  African  Languages,"  p.  5. 
London,  1 


62      SECOND   FORM   OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        [Chap.  iv. 

The  farther  we  proceed  from  this  neighbourhood,  the  less  frequent 
these  letters  become ;  hence  they  do  not  occur  at  all  in  Mpongwe. 
Nor  can  the  clicks  precede  other  consonants  in  Kafir  as  they  can  in 
Hottentot ;  and  of  the  four  Hottentot  clicks,  two  only  (especially 
the  dental)  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  Of  the  other  two,  one  is 
very  rare  and  the  other  altogether  unknown. 

The  number  of  other  consonants  is  very  considerable.  They  are 
subject  to  fixed  euphonic  laws,  and  interchange  regularly  between 
the  various  members  of  the  Bantu  family,  a  great  many  of  such 
concordances  being  already  well  known  and  determined.*  Kafir 
seems  the  most  highly  developed  of  the  cognate  tongues  in  its 
euphonic  system. 

All  these  languages  have  this  in  common  :  that  the  word  is  built 
up  by  elements  not  suffixed,  but  prefixed  to  the  principal  root. 
Thus  the  agglutinating  formula  in  Kafir,  Tegeza,  Herero,  &c,  is 
R  E  (see  p.  45). 

Of  these  prefixes,  some  denote  the  singidar,  others  the  plural. 
Thus,  hi  Kafir,  the  singular  prefixes  are :  ill,  izi,  u,  via,  um ;  those 
of  the  plural :  aba,  ama,  imi,  izi,  izim,  izin,  o.  Thus  umntu  =  man, 
abantu  =  men  ;  udade  =  sister,  odade  =  sisters. 

These  various  formative  prefixes  of  course  differ  in  the  various 
idioms  of  the  Bantu  family,  but  they  all,  nevertheless,  derive  from 
older  common  forms.  At  some  unknown  period  there  existed  a 
common  Bantu  tongue,  which  subsequently  broke  up  into  different 
dialects,  all  characterised  by  special  euphonic  laws.  Hence  the 
various  prefixes  of  this  primitive  speech  were  naturally  modified  in 
the  various  idioms  derived  from  it. 

A  comparison  with  the  other  members  of  the  family  shows  that 
the  initial  vowel  of  the  Kafir  prefixes  um  aba,  above  referred  to, 
really  constitutes  another  prefix.  The  words  umntu,  abantu  would 
thus  be  decomposed  into  u-m-ntu,  a-ba-ntu ;  the  elements  m,  ba, 
being,  in  this  instance,  the  true  derivative  elements  of  the  word. 
In  Sesuto  (a  Sechuana  dialect)  the  singular,  motu,  becomes  plural, 
batu ;  in  Sena,  munto  and  vanttu ;  in  Ki-Hiau  (the  Zanzibar  dialect) 
mundu  and  vandu  respectively.  But  in  Herero,  as  in  Kafir,  we 
*  Bleek,  op.  cit.,  p.  81. 


Chap,  iy.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION. 


63 


meet  with  another  element  prefixed:  omundu,  ovandu  ;  so  also  in 
Kongo :  omuntu,  oantu.  Hence,  those  writers  that  employ  the 
word  Abantu  as  the  general  designation  of  the  whole  family,  would 
do  better  to  use  the  form  Bantu  for  this  purpose,  this  being  the  first 
or  most  direct  derivative  of  the  term. 

Subjoined  is  a  table  of  the  singular  and  plural  forms  of  this  word 
in  some  of  the  languages  in  question  : 


Sing. 

PL 

Ki-Suaheli 

mtu 

watu. 

Ki-Xika 

mutu 

atu. 

Ki-Karnba 

mundu    . . . 

andu. 

Ki-Sambala 

niuntu 

wantu. 

Ki-Hiau 

mundu     . . . 

vandu. 

Sena 

muntto    ... 

vanttu. 

Makua    ... 

muttu 

attu. 

Kafir       

umntu 

abantu. 

Zulu        

umuntu  ... 

abantu. 

Sehlapi   ... 

rnothu 

bathu. 

Sesuto     ... 

motu 

batu. 

Tegeza    ... 

amuno 

vano. 

Herero    ... 

omundu  ... 

ovandu. 

Sindonga 

umtu 

oantu. 

Nano 

oniuno     . . . 

omano. 

Angola    ... 

omutu     . . . 

oatu. 

Congo 

omuntu  ... 

oantu. 

Benga     ... 

moto 

bato. 

Duabla    ... 

motu 

batu. 

Isubu 

motu 

batu. 

The  case  elements  are  also  prefixed.  Thus  in  Herero,  the  instru- 
mental sign  being  na,  we  get  nomundu  or  namundu=wiiih  or  by 
the  man.  Eere  a  euphonic  law  comes  into  play,  the  first  form 
being  naomundu  for  na  +  omundu.  So  in  Kafir,  umntu  =  maxL,  and 
abantu  =  mem,  become  ngomuntu =wiifo  the  man,  ngabantu  =  with. 
the  men.  Eere  the  instrumental  sign  is  nga,  answering  to  the 
i  na,  and  we  sir  how  it  is  prefixed  to  the  word  formed  by  a 
primary  derivative  element  singular  and  plural 

Tin-  adjective  is  formed  with  the  si i  derivative  elemenl  as  the 

noun  it  qualifies,  or  if  there  be  a  difference  it  is  a1  Least  vi  ry  slight. 
In    Kafir,  L'li"  being  great,    umntu  omkula   will   be  great  man  ; 


64         SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

abantu  abakulu,  great  men.  The  word  into  =  thing,  being  izinto 
in  the  plural,  into  erikulu  =  great  thing;  izinto  ezinkulu  =  great  things. 
In  a  word,  the  adjective  necessarily  agrees,  even  in  its  formation 
with  its  noun. 

Thus  the  word  Jculu  =  great,  may,  in  a  sentence,  have  four  or  five 
different  prefixes,  if  it  happen  to  he  repeated  so  many  times  as  quali- 
fying so  many  words  also  formed  by  means  of  these  prefixes.  This 
process  is  common  to  all  the  members  of  the  Bantu  family,  whence 
the  title  of  alliteral  languages,  which  has  been  given  them. 

The  method  of  expressing  the  relations  of  mood  and  tense  seems, 
at  first  sight,  somewhat  intricate,  but  is  really  cpiite  simple,  consist- 
ing, as  is  usual  in  agghitinating  tongues,  in  tacking  independent 
particles  on  to  the  principal  root.  But,  as  already  stated,  the  special 
feature  of  the  Bantu  family  is  the  formation  of  words  by  means  of 
prefixes,  hence  the  secondary  elements  are  here  placed,  not  after, 
but  before  the  chief  radical. 

§  5.— The  Fulu  Group. 

The  Fulas  (also  Pul  or  Peul)  occupy  the  centre  of  Africa,  between 
the  tenth  and  twentieth  degrees  of  north  latitude  ;  on  the  west,  ap- 
proaching the  coast  of  Senegal,  and  stretching  eastAvards  towards 
Lake  Chad.  It  is. a  vast  region,  about  750. leagues  in  length,  and 
divided  into  two  nearly  equal  parts  by  the  [Niger.  Its  mean  breadth 
is  about  125  leagues,  between  the  tenth  and  fifteenth  degrees  of 
north  latitude.  The  principal  Fula  dialects  are  the  Futatoro,  the 
Futajallo,  the  Bondu,  and  the  Sokoto. 

The  phonetic  system  of  this  group  is  not  very  complex,  possessing 
neither  sli,  the  French  j,  nor  the  Semitic  gutturals. 

Fula  knows  no  distinction  between  the  masculine  and  feminine 
genders,  but  still  divides  beings  into  two  classes.  It  distinguishes, 
on  the  one  hand,  everything  belonging  to  humanity,  and  on  the 
other,  everything  else — the  brute  creation  and  inanimate  objects. 

M.  Faidherbe  calls  these  two  classes  the  liuman  and  the  brute 
genders*     This    distinction   is    essential   for   the   Fula   grammar. 

*  "  Genre  hominin  et  Genre  brute,"  in  his  "Essai  sur  la  Langue  Poule." 
Paris,  1875. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         65 

Words  referring  to  human  beings,  whether  nouns,  adjectives,  or 
participles,  all  end  in  the  singular,  in  o,  which  is  nothing  but 
a  pronominal  root  agglutinated :  gorko  =  man.  This  class  ends  in  the 
plural,  in  be,  which  again  is  the  pronoun  they  (masculine  and  femi- 
nine). In  the  brute  gender,  the  singular  ends  either  with  a  vowel, 
an  /.  or  am,  o  being  very  rare.  The  plural  seems  more  complex,  and 
certain  euphonic  laws  seem  to  play  a  great  part  in  agglutinating 
endings  to  the  root.  The  initial  consonants  of  words  in  the  singular 
are  liable  to  interchange  with  others  in  the  plural.  The  verb,  how- 
ever, is  much  simpler,  its  different  tenses,  as  in  all  agglutinating 
idioms,  being  formed  by  the  agglomeration  of  sundry  elements, 
whose  analysis  remains  always  perfectly  clear. 

The  Fida  syntax  is  not  very  intricate,  the  order  of  the  succession 
of  ideas  determining,  in  principle,  the  order  of  the  words  in  the 
sentence.  Thus,  the  name  of  the  possessor  is  preceded  by  that  of 
the  thing  possessed,  and  the  object,  whether  direct  or  indirect, 
follows  the  verb  (in  the  active  voice).  In  fact,  the  whole  difficulty 
of  Fula  consists  in  the  great  variety  of  its  euphonic  laws,  but  this 
is  no  slight  difficulty. 

With  the  adoption  of  Mohammedanism,  the  Fulas  took  over  a 
certain  number  of  Arabic  words,  religious,  legal,  and  suchlike.  But 
setting  this  element  aside,  it  remained  to  be  seen  whether  there  were 
any,  and  if  bo,  what  kind  of  relationship  between  certain  Senegal 
idioms,  such  as  the  AVolof  and  the  Serer,  and  the  Fida.  No  one,  of 
course,  pretends  to  deny  that  they  have  all  a  certain  number  of 
words  in  common.  But  in  the  actual  state  of  our  knowledge  it 
would  be  al  least  rash  to  base  an  assumed,  and,  in  itself,  a  very  pro- 
blematica]  affinity  on  a  rather  weak  lexical  agreement.  M.  Faid- 
I  is,  '.villi  good  reason,  very  reserved  on  tin's  pretended  connection 
of  the  Fula  with  the  Wblof  and  Serer.  Theoretically  it  is  the  very 
of  probable  ;  practically,  it  remains  si  ill  to  be  proved.  We 
know  thai  the  Fulas  reached  Senegal  only  after  having  crossed 
Centra]  Africa,  and,  in  all  likelihood,  their  primitive  stock  is  to  be 
looked  for  in  Eastern  Africa,  where  there  may  be  found  idioms 
related  to  theirs,  if  any  still  .survive. 


66  SECOND   FORM  OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

§  6. — Tlie  Nubian  Languages. 

Ethnologists  treat  the  Nubians  and  the  Fulas  as  one  race,  of 
Avhich  the  first  forms  an  eastern,  the  second  a  western  division. 
But  however  this  he,  the  languages  spoken  by  them  seem  to  he 
different. 

Nubian  proper,  that  is,  the  speech  of  the  Barahras,  is  spoken 
in  the  Nile  Valley,  between  the  twenty-first  and  twenty-fourth 
degrees  north  latitude,  by  about  40,000  people. 

Dongola,  spoken  somewhat  farther  south,  differs  but  little 
from  it. 

Tumal  is  spoken  in  the  south  of  Kordofan,  north  of  Shiluk, 
and  is  a  negro  dialect. 

Konjari,  also  spoken  in  parts  of  Dar  Fur  and  Kordofan,  has  been 
included  in  this  group,  but  the  point  is  not  yet  quite  settled.  There 
may  be  also  other  idioms  related  to  it,  but  in  the  absence  of  com- 
plete information,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  very  positively  on  the 
subject. 

§  7. — Languages  of  the  Negritos. 

But  little  is  knoAvn  concerning  the  dialects  spoken  by  the  various 
Negrito  tribes,  so  that  for  the  present  Ave  can  do  no  more  than 
mention  them. 

The  Negritos — by  some  writers  connected  with  the  Papuas,  but 
by  others,  seemingly  with  more  reason,  distinguished  from  them — 
are  met  with  in  the  Peninsula  of  Malacca,  in  the  Andaman  and 
Nicobar  Islands,  and  in  certain  districts  of  the  Sundas  and  the  Philip- 
pines. They  have  been  traced  farther  northwards  towards  Japan, 
and  are  even  supposed  to  exist  in  Central  India.  The  geographical 
area  occupied  by  the  Negritos  has  been  discussed  by  MM.  de 
Quatrefages  and  Hanry,  in  their  "  Crania  Ethnica,"  and  in  the  first 
numbers  of  the  "Eevue  d'Antliropologie." 

§  8. — Languages  of  the  Papuas. 

These,  also,  are  but  indifferently  known.  Spoken  to  the  east  of 
the  Malay,  north  of  the  Australian  idioms,  in  New  Guinea,  and  in 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FOKH   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         67 

a  number  of  the  adjacent  islands,  they  form  several  dialects  more 
or  less  differing  from  each  other. 

But  sufficient  is  known  to  pronounce  them  decidedly  agglutinative. 
Thus,  in  one  of  their  dialects,  the  plural  element  being  si,  the  words 
snun= man,  bien  = woman,  become,  in  the  plural,  snunsi,  bi&nsi. 
The  particles  answering  to  the  case-endings  of  inflectional  tongues 
are  here  prefixed  to  the  word :  rosnun  =  of  the  man  ;  bemiin  =  to 
the  man  ;  romunsi  =  of  the  men  ;  besnumi  =  to  the  men. 

The  languages  of  the  Papuas  have  been  treated  by  Mayer  in  the 
67th  vol.  of  the  "  Journal  of  the  Vienna  Academy." 


§  9. — Australian  Languages. 

The  numerous  Australian  idioms  seem  all  related  to  each  other, 
bnt  have  no  affinity  with  any  other  linguistic  famdy. 

Their  phonetics  are  extremely  simple,  possessing  neither  sibilants 
nor  aspirates.  In  nearly  all  of  these  idioms  the  idea  of  number  is 
but  little  developed,  and  that  of  gender  not  at  all.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  is  a  certain  wealth  of  suffixes  expressive  of  nominal 
relations,  constituting  what  are  improperly  called  cases  in  the  agglu- 
tinating tongues. 

The  Australian  idioms  are  divided  into  three  groups.  The  eastern 
branch,  on  the  Pacific  seaboard,  is  spoken  in  parts  of  Queensland 
and  of  New  $outh  Wales,  ami  includes  the  Kamiloroi  or  Kamilroi, 
near  the  river  Barwan;  the  Koiriberri,  the  Wiraiuroi,  the  Wailwun, 
in  the  region  of  the  Barwan,  towards  Fort  Bourke  ;  the  Kokai, 
farther  north,  on  the  rivers  Maranoa  and  Kogun ;  the  Wolaroi ;  the 
Pikumbul ;  the  Paiamha  •  the  Kinlci;  the  I)i/>/>i!,  north  of  Moreton 
Bay;  the  Turrubnl.,  near  the  river  I.rishane. 

The  central  group  comprises  the  idioms  spoken  north  of  Adelaide, 
in  South  Australia. 

The  western  group  includes  the  dialects  spoken  in  the  south  of 
Western  Australia,  to  the  east  and  south  of  Perth. 

Thus  all  these  languages  belong  to  the  southern  portion  of  the 
Australian  continent.  Those  of  the  centre  and  north  may  be  said 
to  1)"  as  yet  utterly  unknot  a, 

r  2 


6S         SECOND   FORM   OP   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

The  phonetics  of  the  Australian  tongues  are  very  simple,  in- 
cluding hut  a  small  numher  of  vowels  and  consonants.  They  seem 
to  possess  the  soft  explosives  only  (b,  d,  g).  Words  are  formed  hy 
means  of  suffixes  alone,  the  formative  element  heing  placed  always 
at  the  end  of  the  word,  as  in  Aryan,  and  never  at  the  beginning, 
as  in  the  Bantu  system  :  tippin  =  bird  ;  tippinko  —  to  the  bird  ; 
punnul  =  sun  ;  punnidko  =  to  the  sun. 

The  numeral  system  is  one  of  the  most  limited.  They  reckon 
up  to  four  inclusive,  but  after  that  they  use  some  general  term 
expressive  of  multitude,  or  a  great  quantity. 

The  language  of  the  Tasmanians  seems  to  have  been  related  to 
those  of  the  mainland ;  but  our  information  regarding  it  is  very 
incomplete,  and,  as  is  well  known,  the  Tasmanians  are  now  ex- 
tinct, Truganina,  the  last  of  the  race,  having  died  in  1876. 

§  10. — The  Malay  o-Polynesian  Idioms. 

These  are  sometimes  called  Oceanic,  although  including  some 
spoken  in  Africa  (or  its  islands),  such  as  the  Malagasse,  and  others 
in  Asia,  such  as  the  Forcnosan. 

They  are  thus  classified  by  Frederic  Miiller,  in  his  account  of 
the  cruise  of  the  "  Novara  "  round  the  globe,*  and  in  his  "  Allge- 
meine  Ethnographie  "  : 

Melanesian  Group. — Figi,  Annatom,  Erromango,  Tana,  Mallikolo, 
Lifoo,  Baladea,  Bauro,  Guadalkanar. 

Polynesian  Group. — Samoa,  Tonga,  Maori,  Tahiti,  Rarotonga, 
Marquesas  dialects,  Hawaii  or  Sandwich. 

Malay  Group. — Tagala  branch  :  Language  of  the  Philippines 
(Tagala,  Bisaya,  Pampanga,  Bicol,  &c.) ;  Ladrone  or  Marianne 
dialects ;  Malagasse  of  Madagascar  ;  Formosan.  Malayo-Javanese 
branch  :  Malay,  Javanese,  language  of  the  Sunda  Islands,  Madura, 
Mankasar,  Alfooroo,  Battak,  Dayak. 

Two  facts  seem  now  firmly  established  :  (1)  That  the  Malayo- 
Polynesian  idioms  have  all  a  common  origin ;  (2)  That  they  are 
independent  of  all   other  linguistic  systems.     Bopp  made  an  ill- 

*  "Reise  dor  osterreichischen  Fregatte." 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.  G9 

starred  attempt  to  connect  them  with  the  Aryan  family  ;  while 
others  have  fancied  that  they  belong  to  a  pretended  Turanian 
group,  of  which  we  shall  have  something  to  say  in  §  19  of  the 
present  chapter.  But  all  this  was  labour  lost.  Their  phonetic 
system  is  quite  distinct  from  that  of  all  others  ;  their  roots  are 
thorougldy  original,  and  afford  no  elements  of  comparison  with 
those  of  the  Ar}ran,  Uralo- Altaic,  or  any  other  system  Avhatsoever. 

According  to  Frederic  Midler,  the  primitive  Malayo-Polynesian 
phonetic  system  was  composed  of  three  explosives,  A-,  t,  p;  three 
corresponding  nasals ;  h,  r ;  the  fricatives  s,  f,  v ;  and  the  vowels 
a,  t,  u  ( =  oo),  e,  o.  It  was  not  tdl  a  later  period  that  the  other 
sounds  appeared — for  instance,  g,  d,  h,  ch,j,  y,  I,  &c. 

The  elements  attached  to  the  root  to  form  words  are  sometimes 
prefixed,  and  sometimes  suffixed,  while  in  certain  dialects  they  are 
intercalated,  that  is,  incorporated  in  the  body  of  the  word. 

Of  the  three  Malayo-Polynesian  groups,  the  Malayan  seems  to 
present  the  fuUest  and  most  highly-developed  forms,  the  Tagala 
branch  being  especially  distinguished  in  this  respect.  Next  comes 
the  Melanesian;  and  last  of  all,  the  Polynesian,  which  shows  great 
poverty  when  compared  with  the  Tagala,  Formosan,  and  Malagasse. 
But  this  would  not  justify  the  statement  that  the  Malay  group 
more  faithfully  represents  the  common  forms  that  have  given  birth 
to  ill''  Tagala  and  the  Javanese,  as  well  as  to  the  Tahitian  ami  the 
Marquesas  dialect.  The  view  to  take  of  the  matter  is  that  the 
Polynesian  group  was  detached  from  the  parent  stock  at  a  period 
when  lln'  language  was  not  yet  very  developed,  and  that  the  state 
of  its  civilisation  did  not  permit  of  its  further  development. 
"  Whilst  tin;  inflectional  languages,"  says  Frederic  Midler,  "broke 
up  into  separate  divisions  at  an  epoch  when  their  structure  was 
already  perfect,  whilst  their  history  henceforth  reveals  uothing  but 
a  continuous  modification  of  their  forms,  the  uninnectionaJ  idioms 
.seem,  on  the  contrary,  to  have  split-  up  at  a  time  when  their 
ore  was  still  in  an  unfinished  state.  Thus  each  of  them, 
after  having  heroine  detached  from  its  congeners,  was  obliged  to 
make  provision  out  of  its  own  resources  for  the  completion  of  its 

inner  structure,       Bence  the  identity  of  roots  and  of  their  formative 


70         SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

elements  ;  but  hence  also  the  rare  coincidence  of  the  ready-made 
words."* 

The  grammar  of  the  Malayo-Polynesian  idioms  is  like  that 
of  all  other  agglutinating  tongues.  There  is  no  true  declension, 
particles  performing  the  functions  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  case- 
endings,  and  of  our  prepositions.  Thus,  in  New  Caledonian,* 
"belonging  to  the  Melanesian  group,  vangaevu  =  lord,  the  lord  ; 
o  vangaevu  =  of  the  lord;  vangaevu  04  =  the  lords;  o  vangaevu 
oi  =  oi  the  lords.  In  Maori  (Polynesian  group),  te  tanata  =  the 
man ;  a  te  tanata  =  of  the  man  ;  hi  te  tanata  =  to  the  man. 

No  special  element  is  agglutinated  to  the  noun  in  order  to 
denote  number.  In  Fiji,  for  instance,  a  tamata  means  both  man 
and  men  ;  in  Erromango,  niteni  =  son  and  sons.  Hence  plurality  is 
expressed  by  certain  artificial  processes,  as  in  the  Melanesian 
dialect  of  Mare,  where  the  word  nodei  =  crowd,  is  placed  before  the 
noun  to  make  it  plural :  ngome  =  a  man  ;  nodei  gnome  =  men.  In 
New  Caledonian  the  noun  is  either  preceded  by  the  collective 
va,  or  followed  by  oi ;  vangaevu  =  the  lord;  vangaevu  oi  =  the 
lords.  In  the  Malay  group  the  noun  is  either  doubled  or  else 
accompanied  by  some  collective  term.  The  repetition  of  the  word 
is  regulated  by  special  laws,  as  in  Formosan,  which  doubles  the 
first  syllable  :  sjien  =  the  tooth  ;  sisjien  =  the  teeth  ;  while  in 
Javanese  the  whole  word  may  be  doubled  :  ratu  =  the  prince ; 
raturatu  =  the  princes. 

Gender  also  is  denoted  not  by  agglutination  but  by  some 
secondary  word,  as  in  Fiji,  tagane  =  male  ;  aleva  =  female  ;  a  gone 
tagane  =  boy  ;  a  gone  aleva  =  girl.  In  Tahiti  metua  means  parent, 
of  either  sex,  father  and  mother  being  distinguished  by  the 
accompanying  words  tune  and  vahine  respectively.  In  the  case  of 
animals  two  other  terms  are  used,  such  as  oni  and  ufa.  Thus  : 
moa   oni  =  cock;    moa   «/«  =  hen.|.      Neither    is    there   any   true 

*  "  Allgemeine  Ethnographie,"  p.  285. 

•f-  H.  V.  D.  Gabelentz,  "  Die  Melanesischen  Sprachen,"  "  Memoirs  of  the 
Saxony  Academy,"  Philosophy  and  History  sections,  vol.  iii.     Leipzig,  1861. 

X  Ganssin,  "  Du  Dialecte  de  Tahiti,  de  celni  des  ilea  Marquises,  et,  en 
general,  de  la  Langue  Polynesienne."    Paris,  1853. 


Chap,  rv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         71 

conjugation,  the  notions  of  tense  and  mood  being  expressed  by 
means  of  affixes,  or  words  no  longer  possessing  anything  more 
than  a  subordinate  sense.  As  a  rule,  the  verb  itself  comes 
last,  as  in  the  Melanesian  dialect  of  Annatom  : 

Ek  asaig  =  I  say. 
Ek  mun  asaig  =  I  have  said. 
Ekis  asaig  =  I  was  saying. 
Ekis  mun  asaig  =  I  had  said. 
Ekpu  asaig  =  I  shall  say. 
Eku  vit  asaig  =  If  I  say,  &c.  &c. 

Still  this  is  by  no  means  an  invariable  rule. 

It  has  just  been  said  that  the  secondary  or  relational  elements 
may  be  placed  either  before  the  principal  word,  as  in  the  Bantu 
family,  or  after  it,  as  in  the  Aryan  tongues,  or,  lastly,  embodied  in 
the  word  itself. 

Tims  in  Mare  (Melanesian  group)  from  vose  =  to  tie,  and 
menenge  =  to  dwell,  are  formed  namenen<jc  =  a  dwelling;  navose  =  n, 
place,  where  the  derivation  is  effected  by  means  of  prefixes;  so 
also  in  the  Xew  Caledonian  :  ngavie  =  warrior ;  ngaveka  =  giver — 
from  vie  =  to  light,  veka  =  to  give;  and  in  the  Malay:  herpakei  = 
dressed  ;  berbini= married — from  pdkei= clothes,  &&w=woman. 

In  Tagala,  on  the  contrary,  derivation  is  effected  by  means  of 
suffixes,  as  in  pwtian  =  whiteness — from  puti  — white;  bigayan  =  gift 
— from  bigay  =  giver. 

Lastly,  in  the  Malay  group  the  derivative  element  is  sometimes 
incorporated  in  the  radical  itself;  but  this  incorporating  process  will 
be  more  fully  discussed  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  American 
Languages. 

The  Malayo-Polynesian  tongues  have  all  of  them  a  more  or  less 
developed  literature.  The  natives  of  Polynesia  possess  a  great 
number  of  stories,  tales,   and  traditional   songs.*      Malay  literature 

*A  i  table  contribution  to  tho  study  of  Polynesian  oral  literature 

baa  just  been  made  by  the  Kev.  William  Wyatt  Gill,  by  his  "Myths  and 
Bongs  from  the  South  Pacific,"  London,  1876.  The  interi  I  and  importance 
(<f  this  work  are  not  a  Little  enhanced  by  the  admirable  preface,  from  tho 
pen  of  Profi  ssor  Has  Mullet-.     Note  by  Translator. 


72         SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

itself  is  tolerably  rich,*  owing  partly  to  its  extensive  borrowings. 
Its  philosophic  writings  have  been  inspired  by  those  of  the  Hindus 
or  the  Mussulmans.  But  its  tales  and  romances  are  often  indigenous, 
and  its  poetry  is  nearly  altogether  original.  It  embraces  not  only 
fugitive  pieces,  dialogues,  proverbs,  and  fables,  but  genuine  epic 
and  dramatic  poems. 

Javanese  possesses  a  literature  winch  is  largely  indebted  to 
Sanskrit,  not  only  for  its  general  tone  and  spirit,  but  also  for  its 
vocabulary.    It  has  also  its  original  poems,  songs,  fables,  and  legends. 

Malay  is  written  with  the  Arabic  characters,  introduced  with  the 
Mohammedan  religion,  and  the  nature  of  its  original  writing  system 
is  now  unknown.  The  other  idioms  of  the  Malay  group,  Tagala, 
Javanese,  Mankasar,  &c,  have  borrowed  their  different  systems  from 
an  ancient  Indian  alphabet,  as  has  been  shown  by  Frederic 
Midler,  f 

§  11. — Japanese. 

The  attempt  has  been  too  frequently  made  to  compare  Japanese 
with  the  Uralo- Altaic  group — Mongolian,  Turkish,  Magyar,  Suomi, 
and  the  cognate  tongues.  JN"o  doubt  the  Japanese  race  must  have 
originally  passed  over  from  the  Asiatic  continent  to  the  islands  now 
occupied  by  them.  But  does  it  f ollow  from  this,  that  their  language 
must  have  a  common  origin  with  those  of  the  mainland,  even 
situated  nearest  to  them  1  By  no  means,  nor  is  a  mere  assertion 
enough  to  establish  such  a  conclusion.  Hitherto,  apart  from  some 
fruitless  and  unmethodical  attempts,  little  heed  has  been  paid  to  any 
sound  arguments  that  might  otherwise  demonstrate  this  pretended 
relationship.  In  vain  lists  have  been  complacently  drawn  up  of 
fifty,  a  hundred,  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  words,  which  seem  to  offer 
more  or  less  analogy  with  each  other.  This  is  nothing  but  etymology, 
not  philology.  We  could  freely  give  up  the  five  hundred  Mongolo- 
Japanese  cpiasi-homonyms,  without  reckoning  the  five  hundred  or  a 

*  L.  de  Backer,  "  L'Archipel  Indien.  Origincs,  langues,  litteratures,  &c." 
Paris,  1874. 

f  "  Ueber  den  Ursprung  der  Schrift  der  Malayschen  Volker,"  in  the  "  Bulle- 
tins of  the  Vienna  Academy,"  1865. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         73 

thousand  others  that  might  be  discovered  in  two  hours  of  wasted  time, 
for  the  startling  coincidence  of  the  Portuguese  definite  article  with 
the  Magyar  article  a  and  the  Basque  article  a.  This  is  doubtless  quite 
as  little  to  the  purpose,  but  appearances  are  here  at  least  far  better 
respected.  And  if  we  argue  on  the  large  number  of  assumed 
agreements  between  Japanese  and  Mongolian  or  Magyar  words,  the 
case  will  be  made  only  the  more  hopeless ;  the  more  such  whims 
are  indulged  in,  the  less  excusable  we  become.  In  vain  also  that 
such  and  such  syntactical  analogies  are  appealed  to.  "Would  the 
Bulgarian,  which  places  after  the  noun  the  article  it  has  developed 
within  itself,  be  on  that  account  related  to  the  Moldo-Wallachian, 
which  also  postpones  the  article  to  the  noun  1  To  expect  syntax, 
whose  laws  are  quite  secondary,  to  throw  any  light  on  the  affinities 
of  languages,  is  but  again  to  show  the  greatest  ignorance  of  the 
true  scientific  method.  Where  the  roots  are  not  common,  there  is 
positively  nothing  from  which  we  can  hope  for  any  serious  proof  of 
the  common  origin  of  two  or  more  languages.  Assumed  syntactical 
resemblances  are  of  no  greater  value  than  the  comparison  of  a 
multitude  of  words  already  fully  developed.  The  more  we  heap 
them  up,  the  more  we  give  proof  of  scientific  inconsistency. 

Until  there  is  scientific  proof  of  the  contrary,  we  shall  therefore 
continue  to  look  upon  the  Japanese  as  an  isolated  language,  inde- 
pendent  of  all  other  linguistic  systems,  so  far,  of  course,  as  the 
individuality  and  irreductibility  of  its  roots  are  concerned. 

Japanese  occupies  the  southern  and  central  portions  of  the 
archipelago  lying  between  the  Sea  of  Japan  and  the  Pacific.  It 
comprises  a  number  of  dialects,  which,  however,  do  not  seem 
materially  to  differ  from  each  other. 

The  present  writing  system,  which  is  not  free  from  certain 
difficulties  for  those  commencing  the  study  of  Japanese,  is  derived 
from  the  Chinese,  characters,  and  is  referred  to  about  the  third 
century  of  the  Christian  era.  Strange  to  say,  this  ideographic 
writing  seems  to  have  been  substituted  in  the  place  of  an  alpha- 
betic system  adopted  from  the  Coreans  at  a  still  earlier  epoch.  A 
fresh  and  very  desirable  change,  thai  is  the  adoption  of  the  Etonian 
likely  to  take  place  at  anj  day. 


74         SECOND   FORM   OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

At  the  first  assembly  of  the  Congress  of  Orientalists,  this  point 
was  discussed,  and  the  general  impression  seemed  to  he  that  this 
great  undertaking  had  some  hope  of  success.*  At  the  same  time, 
however,  the  urgent  necessity  was  once  more  made  evident  of 
introducing  some  new  and  simple  founts  into  our  typographic 
establishments,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  dangerous  misunder- 
standings in  transcribing  languages  that  do  not  make  use  of  the 
Eoman  characters.t  For  instance,  sh,  which  is  the  French  cJi,  the 
German  sch,  the  Polish  sz,  and  the  Hungarian  s,  would  require  to 
be  represented  by  a  single  type,  in  the  transcription  of  a  text  written 
in  foreign  characters.  This  might  very  well  be  the  sign  employed 
by  the  Croatians  and  the  Bohemians.  But  without  pretending  to 
arrive  at  absolute  simplicity,  some  practical  system  might  perhaps 
be  devised,  to  which  Japanese  (and  other  Oriental  tongues)  would 
adapt  themselves  without  much  difhciilty.  J 

Japanese  phonetics  are  simple  enough,  and  the  formation  of  the 
words  enables  us  clearly  to  show  what  an  agglutinating  language 
really  is.  The  cases  are  very  distinctly  expressed  by  adding  to 
the  primary  root  certain  secondary  ones,  that  have  lost  their  in- 
dependence, and  now  serve  to  denote  relational  ideas  only.  In 
transcribing  Japanese  texts,  some  writers  would  be  inclined  to 
separate  by  a  hyphen  the  stem  from   these  relational  elements  : 

*  Oriental  Congress,  Paris,  1873. 

f  E.  Picot,  "  Tableau  Phonetique  des  principals  Langues  usuelles,"  in  the 
"  Revue  de  Linguistique,"  vi.  p.  362. 

X  A  good  foundation  of  such  a  system  is  offered  by  the  little  known  but 
really  admirable  scheme  of  Colonel  Henry  CUnton,  as  explained  and  illus- 
trated by  him  in  his  "  International  Pronunciation  Table,  proposed  as  a 
basis  for  the  establishment  of  a  uniform  method  of  denoting  and  describing 
the  pronunciation  of  many  of  the  sounds,  separate  and  combined,  used  in 
human  speech,"  London,  1870.  This  scheme  is  so  simple,  and  yet  so  elastic, 
that,  as  the  ingenious  author  justly  remarks,  "  it  might  be  translated  into 
any  language  in  which  instruction  in  pronunciation  is  to  be  given ;  when, 
mutatis  mutandis,  it  might  serve  to  aid  in  establishing,  for  popular  use,  a 
general  system  of  denoting  the  pronunciation  of  all  the  most  usual  sounds  of 
many  languages."  Its  object  is,  of  course,  different  from  the  more  elaborate 
and  better  known,  though,  for  international  purposes,  not  quite  so  service- 
able, scheme  of  Mr.  A.  J.  Ellis. — Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND  FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         75 

hito-no,  of  the  man;  hito-de,  with  the  man ;  but  this  plan  can  no 
more  be  justified  than  could  that  of  separating,  for  instance,  our 
plural  sign  s,  and  writing  buolc-s,  walls,  stones.  The  closest  juxta- 
position is  the  proper  feature  of  agglutinating  languages,  nor  can 
they  be  represented  in  writing,  otherwise  than  they  exist  in  speech, 
without  effacing  the  strikingly  characteristic  manner  in  which 
words  are  formed  in  these  idioms.  At  the  most,  the  prefixes  o,  mc, 
denoting  gender,  might  be  so  separated  :  neko,  cat ;  o-neko,  tom-cat  > 
me~ne7co,  she-cat.  The  particles  of  number,  such  as  tatsi,  ought  to 
be  attached,  like  those  of  case,  immediately  to  the  stem  :  Mtotatdno, 
of  the  men;  hitotatside,  with  the  men  ;  as  in  the  singular  :  hitono, 
hitode. 

Like  all  agglutinating  verbs,  the  Japanese  verb  admits  of  those 
series  of  elements  placed  in  juxtaposition,  which  have  already  been 
spoken  of,  and  which  more  or  less  precisely  determine  the  sense  of 
the  primary  root — negative,  causative,  optative  elements,  and  the 
like.  It  seems  needless  to  give  a  list  of  examples,  which  would  be 
absolutely  analogous  to  those  already  quoted,  or  to  others  we  shall 
have  to  introduce,  when  speaking  more  in  detail  of  the  Uralo- Altaic 
group. 

Japanese  literature,  though  evidently  interesting,  has  not  yel 
found  a  historian.  It  is  largely  occupied  with  history,  historical 
novels,  stories,  and  romance  in  general.  There  are  also  a  great 
number  of  works  on  religious  philosophy  and  poetry,  and  amongsl 
the  sciences,  linguistics  and  botany  have  been  cultivated.  It  will, 
doubtless,  be  no  easy  matter  in  these  compositions  to  separate  the 
purely  national  element  from  what  is  due  to  Chinese  influence, 
which  mad''  it.s>  If  felt  more  particularly  about  the  third  century  of 
our  era.  Still,  we  may  hope  that  this  undertaking  may  be  accom- 
plished at  no  very  remote  period. 

All  the  Chinese  words  introduced  through  this  literary  pre- 
dominance have  been  subjected  to  the  principle  of  juxtaposition, 
jus!  as  tli"  Romance  and  Latin  words  have  conformed  to  the 
encies  of  Low  German  accidence  in  English:  conform-ed, 
conformring,  rapid-ly,  and  so  on. 

We  have  Btated  that  the  present  alphabet  is  derived  from  the 


VG         SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      [Chap.  iv. 

Chinese  ideographic  system  ;  and,  like  it,  the  characters  are  written 
in  parallel  columns  from  right  to  left.  Besides  this  cursive  writing, 
which  is  called  hirakana,  and  is  everywhere  current,  there  is 
another,  the  katakana,  vastly  more  simple,  but  employed  mainly  by 
foreigners  little  acquainted  with  the  other  system. 

[This  katakanu  system — the  i-ro-fa,  as  it  is  called,  from  the 
names  of  the  first  three  signs — is  strictly  syllabic,  consisting  of 
forty-seven  characters,  each  representing  a  full  syllable  :  ri,  ru ; 
wo,  wa,  &c.  Of  these,  five  are  purely  vowel  sounds  :  i,  u,  o,  a,  a ; 
.the  rest  combinations  in  which  the  consonant  in  all  cases  precedes 
the  vowel :  ro,  fa,  ni,  and  so  on.  By  the  addition  of  the  soft 
accent,  nigori,  consisting  of  two  minute  strokes  to  the  right,  of  the 
hard  accent,  mctru — a  little  dot  or  circle  also  to  the  right — and  of  a 
sign  for  the  solitary  true  consonant  n,  the  original  forty-seven 
characters  are  raised  to  seventy-three,  and  are  then  differently 
arranged.  There  are  a  few  other  orthographic  signs,  such  as  koto, 
tama,  site,  &c,  but  the  whole  system  is  so  simple  and  ingenious 
that  the  Avonder  is  it  has  not  long  ago  superseded  the  cumbrous, 
half-ideographic,  half-phonetic  systems,  that  still  prevail  everywhere 
throughout  the  country.] 

§  12.- — Corean. 

This  language  has  been  grouped  with  various  agglutinating 
idioms,  more  particularly  with  the  Japanese.  Without  absolutely 
denying  the  possibility  of  such  a  connection,  before  admitting  it  we 
must  wait  till  it  is  supported  by  some  methodic  arguments,  which 
have  so  far  not  been  forthcoming. 

Of  all  the  languages  of  the  extreme  east,  Corean  is  the  least 
known  and  the  least  studied.  It  possesses  a  true  alphabet,  com- 
posed of  detached  vowels  and  consonants,  which  is  simple  enough, 
and  dates  probably  from  the  fourth  century  of  our  era.  But  in 
spite  of  all  the  hypotheses  propounded  on  the  subject,  its  origin 
is  still  clouded  in  mystery. 

In  Corean,  as  in  other  agglutinating  idioms,  suffixes  are  used  to 
express  the  various  relational  ideas  denoted  by  case-endings  in  the 
inflectional   languages.      ^Number  is   denoted    either  by  repeating 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OP   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         77 

the  word,  or  by  the  addition  of  some  secondary  term  meaning  all 
or  many. 

In  the  Corean  vocabulary  there  are  a  great  number  of  Chinese 
words,  Avhich,  however,  are  easily  recognised,  though  their  pronun- 
ciation is  by  no  means  uniform. 

§  13.— Tito  Dravidian   Tongues. 

This  group,  which  is  also  spoken  of  as  the  Tamulu,  the  Tamil, 
and  the  .Malabaric  family,  derives  its  name  from  a  Sanskrit  word, 
originally  denoting  those  Hindus  who  had  settled  in  that  part  of 
India  known  afterwards  as  the  Deccan.  In  course  of  time  the 
word  was  applied  to  the  country  itself,  and  more  particularly  to 
that  part  of  it  where  Tamil  was  spoken,  which  is  the  most  important 
member  of  the  group. 

These  languages  occupy  the  whole  southern  portion  of  India 
proper,  from  the  Vindhay  mountains  and  the  river  ^Nerbudda  to 
Cape  Comorin.  In  this  vast  region,  containing  a  population  of 
about  50,000,000  inhabitants,  there  are  a  few  European  and 
Mussulman  settlements;  but  the  number  of  those  speaking  the 
Dravidian  idioms  exclusively  may  be  estimated  at  upwards  of 
45,000,000. 

In   his    important   work    on   the   Dravidian  tongues,    Caldwell 

divides  them  into  two  groups,  according  as  they  arc  cultivated  or 

not.       The   first   consists   of  six  languages  :    Tamil,    Malayalam, 

i,  Kanarese,  Tulu,  and  Kudagu.     The  second  also  comprises 

six  dial  ets,  which  will  be  presently  mentioned. 

The  Tamil,  also  (but  improperly)  Tamul  (the  second  vowel  in 
the  Dative  spelling  being  distinctly  a  short  i,  not  a  u),  occupies  in 
many  respects  the  same  position  in  the  Dravidian  group  that 
Sanskril  does  in  the  Aryan,  surpassing,  as  it  does,  all  the  others  in 
the  richness  of  its  vocabulary,  the  purity  and  antiquity  of  its 
forms,  and  in   its  higher  literary  cultivation.     It  is  the  ordinary 

spi li  of  1  1,500,000  people,  occupying  the  whole  plain  to  the  east 

of  the  Western  Ghats,  from  Pulicat  to  ('ape  Comorin,  and  the 
west  coast  as  far  as  Trivandram.      Then-  are  also   numerous  Tamil 


78         SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iy. 

communities  in  the  north-west  of  Ceylon,  and  in  the  Nizam's 
Dominions. 

The  long  strip  stretching  along  the  coast  between  the  Ghats 
and  the  Arabian  Sea,  from  Trivandram  to  Mangalore,  is  the  home 
of  the  Malayalam,  or  Malayajma,  spoken  by  about  3,000,000  of 
natives.  It  is  looked  on  as  an  older  dialect  of  the  Tamil,  into 
which  a  large  number  of  Sanskrit  words  have  found  their  way. 

The  Tulu,  formerly  spreading  north  of  the  Malayalam,  is  now 
confined  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Mangalore,  on  the  coast  east  of 
the  Ghats,  and  is  spoken  by  probably  not  more  than  300,000. 
Though  sometimes  considered  as  a  dialect  of  the  Malayalam,  it 
differs  very  decidedly  from  that  language ;  and,  in  fact,  constitutes 
a  real  branch  of  the  Dra vidian  family. 

The  Kanarese,  or  Kannada,  occupies  the  north  Dravidian  district, 
extending  over  the  plateau  of  Mysore  and  the  western  portion  of 
the  Nizam's  Dominions.  The  number  of  those  by  whom  it  is 
spoken  is  now  estimated  at  about  9,000,000.  This  language  is 
extremely  interesting,  as  it  often  retains  forms  more  antique  and 
purer  even  than  those  of  the  Tamil. 

The  Telugu,  also  Telinga,  is  the  Andhra  of  Sanskrit  writers. 
It  limits  the  Dravidian  group  on  the  east  and  the  north,  and  is 
spoken  by  15,500,000  natives.  Its  forms  have  been  less  faithfully 
preserved  than  those  of  its  congeners,  and  its  phonetic  system  has 
also  been  greatly  changed,  under  the  influence  of  harmonic  laws, 
that  have  earned  for  it  the  name  of  the  Italian  of  the  Deccan. 

Of  all  the  cultivated  Dravidian  tongues,  Kudagu  is  the  least 
important,  being  spoken  by  not  more  than  150,000  natives,  west  of 
Mysore.  Caldwell,  who  had  formerly  looked  on  it  as  a  dialect  of 
the  Kanarese,  gives  it  an  independent  position  in  the  second  edition 
(1875)  of  his  "  Dravidian  Grammar." 

Amongst  the  secondary  dialects  may  be  mentioned  the  Kota,  the 
Tuda,  the  Gond,  the  Ku  or  Khond,  and  perhaps  the  Rajmdhal,  and 
the  Union. 

The  Kota  is  spoken  by  a  half-savage  tribe,  reckoned  at  about 
1,100,  in  the  gorges  of  the  JNTeilgherries.  The  Tuda  is  the  dialect 
of  another  Neilgherry  tribe,  consisting  of  not  more  than  750.     The 


Chap,  it.]      SECOND   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        79 

Oond  is  the  language  of  1,600,000  in  the  hilly  districts  in  the 
territories  of  Gondvana,  Nagpore,  Sangor,  and  the  Nerbudda.  The 
Ku,  or  Khond,  is  spoken  at  Goomsur,  on  the  hills  of  Orissa,  and 
in  the  eastern  parts  of  Gondvana,  by  about  270,000.  The  Bajmahal, 
or  Muler,  and  Urunn,  are  spoken  in  Central  India — -the  first  by 
40,000,  the  second  by  upwards  of  260,000 — and  both  of  these 
dialects  are  somewhat  closely  related  to  each  other.  Some  writers 
add  to  this  list  the  Badaga,  current  in  a  corner  of  the  Neilgherries  ; 
but  Caldwell  treats  it  merely  as  an  old  dialect  of  the  Kanarese, 
•without  any  claim  to  be  separately  classified. 

The  territories  still  owned  by  France  in  these  vast  regions,  which 
once  rang  with  the  names  of  a  Dupleix,  a  Bussy,  and  a  Lally- 
Tollendal,  are  so  disposed  that  four  of  them  are  comprised  within. 
the  Dravidian  province.  The  two  most  important,  Pondicherry  and 
Karikal,  are  in  Tamil  land  ;  Make  is  on  the  Malayalam  coast,  and 
Tanoan  in  the  Telugu  country. 

In  this  rapid  sketch  of  the  limits  still  occupied  by  the  Dravidian 
tongues,  the  question  arises,  Were  they  always  so  circumscribed? 
And  are  we  to  assume  that  they  have  been  driven  into  their 
present  domain  by  the  first  Aryan  immigrations'?  This,  though 
likely  enough  in  itself,  has  so  far  not  been  clearly  proved.  It  lias 
been  merely  conjectured  that  the  non-Aryan  elements  of  the  idioms 
spoken  in  Northern  India  may  have  a  Dravidian  origin.  But,  apart 
from  the  fact  that  they  are  very  few  and  of  but  little  importance, 
it  is  very  difficult  not  only  to  analyse,  but  even  to  determine  them. 
In  the  Dravidian  family  itself,  a  great  deal  of  the  vocabulary  of 
certain  rude  varieties  is  of  unknown  origin.  We  should,  therefore, 
accept  with  considerable  reserve  all  statements  made  regarding  a 

I [hie  former  expansion  of  the  Dravidian  languages.     Farther  on 

we  shall  have  to  speak  <>f  the  language  of  Ceylon,  whither  Tamil 
has  been  extended,  in  comparatively  recent  times,  possibly  about  the 
epoch  of  the  great  Buddhist  emigration. 

The  Dravidian  tongues  may  safely  be  regarded  as  an  independent 
group,  related  to  no  other  linguistic  family.     They  have  doubtle 
been  connected,  al  one  time,  with  the  mythical  Scythian  languages; 
at  another  with  the  Uralo  Altaic  group,  and  again  with  the  Aryan, 


80  SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iy. 

the  Semitic,  and  many  others.  But  all  such  comparisons  were 
absolutely  void  of  scientific  method.  A  number  of  Tamil  or  Telugu 
words  were  compared  with  certain  Sanskrit  or  Hebrew  words,  or  with 
others  taken  from  any  other  quarter  whatever — this  being  the  usual 
method  of  those  who  confound  fanciful  etymological  resemblances 
with,  true  philological  affinity.  It  is  not  Tamil  or  Telugu  that  Ave 
have  to  compare  with  Sanskrit  or  Hebrew.  The  first  thing  to  be 
done  is  to  restore  the  primitive  Dravidian  type,  by  the  comparison 
alone  of  which  with  other  families  can  any  satisfactory  conclusions 
be  arrived  at.  We  repeat,  however,  that  the  deductions  already 
firmly  established,  seem  more  than  sufficient  to  show  the  absolute 
independence  of  the  Dravidian  family  from  any  other. 

Attention  has  long  been  directed  to  the  Dravidian  tongues,  which 
were  discovered  some  time  before  the  Sanskrit,  by  the  Dutch, 
Danish,  French,  and  English  adventurers.  They  were  acquired 
by  Europeans,  at  first,  for  trading  purposes,  and  afterwards  as  a 
means  of  spreading  Christianity  among  the  natives.  The  Protestant 
missionaries  were  the  first  to  compose  grammars  and  dictionaries, 
most  of  which  never  have  been  published.  The  first  Tamil  grammar* 
is  that  of  the  Danish  missionary  Ziegenbald,  written  in  Latin,  and 
printed  in  1716  ;  but  the  first  Malayalam  grammar  had  already 
appeared  in  India  in  the  year  1780.  W.  Carey  did  not  publish  his 
Telugu  and  Kanarese  grammars  till  1814  and  1817,  at  Serampore. 
Tulu  has  had  to  wait  till  1872,  when  it  was  taken  in  hand  by 
M.  Erigel,  of  the  Easel  missions,  whose  printing  establishment  at 
Mangalore  issues  a  number  of  sound  works  on  the  study  of  the 
Dravidian  tongues. 

*  That  is,  the  first  composed  iu  an  European  tongue.  The  first  in  Tamil, 
known  as  the  Tolkapyam,  dates  from  about  the  eighth  century  of  our  era, 
and  is,  perhaps,  the  very  oldest  Tamil  work  extant.  It  was  written  by 
Trinadhumagni,  one  of  the  followers  of  Agastya,  who  is  popularly  supposed 
to  have  invented  the  Tamil  language,  in  opposition  to  the  Sanskrit  of  the 
north.  The  Tolkapyam,  itself,  however,  is  rather  a  treatise  on  grammar, 
composed  in  Tamil,  than  a  Tamil  grammar  in  the  strict  sense ;  and  though 
not  written  in  Sanskrit  must  still  be  considered  as  an  Aindra  work,  that  is 
the  work  of  a  disciple  of  the  Aindra  school  of  Sanskrit  grammarians. — Note 
by  Translator. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         81 

They  are  also  now  cultivated  in  Europe  by  a  certain  number  of 
linguists,  and  in  France,  especially  by  M.  J.  Vinson,  to  whom  we 
are  indebted  for  some  valuable  details  on  this  subject.  Dravidian 
scholars  are  by  no  means  rare  in  England,  and  we  may  refer,  before 
all  others,  to  Caldwell,  whose  excellent  treatise,  although  encum- 
bered with  too  many  metaphysical  theories  on  the  so-called  Turanian 
theory,  and  on  the  assumed  probability  of  a  common  origin  for  all 
languages,  has  justly  become  a  standard  work  on  the  Dravidian 
group  of  languages.* 

Dravidian  grammar  may  be  said  to  be  remarkably  simple,  its 
phonetic  system  presenting  no  serious  difficulties,  and  being  com- 
posed of  not  over-numerous  elements.  In  the  whole  group  of  the 
five  literary  languages,  there  exist  only  the  five  vowels  a,  e,  i,  o,  u, 
long  and  short,  which  seem  primitive,  besides  the  two  diphthongs 
ai  and  an,  of  which  the  latter  at  least  does  not  belong  to  the 
common  Dravidian  stock.  In  the  course  of  time  these  vowels 
became  weak  and  attenuated  in  their  utterance,  wbence  arose  a 
in  number  of  intermediate  sounds,  unrepresented  in  their 
written  systems.  Thus  it  happens  that  the  spoken  Tamil  differs  very 
rihly  from  the  literary  language. 

The  consonants  also  are  limited  in  number.  They  include  five 
groups  of  strong  and  weak  explosives — guttural,  palatal,  lingual, 
dental,  and  labial — -with  their  corresponding  nasals;  y,  r,  I,  v,  r 
strong  ;  two  cerebrals;  and  one  sibilant,  .v.  There  may  be  added  a  new 
■  if  explosives  peculiar  to  Tamil  and  Telugu,  transcribed  by 
Caldwell  as  tr,  dr,  but  which  M.  A'inson  looks  on  as  dentals  pre- 
ceded by  a  "  mouillemeni."  The  aspirates  are  unknown  in  these 
idioi  primitive  consonantal  system  seems  to  have  been 

even  -till  more  simple  than  at  present.  Thus,  AT.  Vinson  flunks 
that  the  palatals — oh,j — are  comparatively  recent.  However,  these 
nants,  like  the  rowels,  have,  been  modified  in  the  spoken 
language.  Thus,  both  in  Tamil  and  Malayalam,  the  dental-! 
are   now  showing   a   decide. 1   tendency  towards    the    English   /// 

•  "  Comparative  Grammar  of  the  Dravidian  Languages."     London,  1858-76. 

O 


82  SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

soft*   while  in   Telugu    the    ch   and   the  j   become    at   times    ts 
and  dz. 

The  utterance  of  these  different  sounds  presents  no  very  great 
difficulty,  those  Unguals  alone,  perhaps,  excepted  which  are  gener- 
ally but  wrongly  described  as  cerebrals.  The  final  I  in  the  English 
syllable  ble  gives  an  approximate  idea  of  these  lingual  consonants,  * 
of  which  there  are  five  altogether  :  t,  d,  n,  j,  and  r,  transcribed  in 
Eoman  letters  with  a  dot  below.  Sanskrit  also  possesses  lingual 
consonants,  but  not  organic,  so  that  these  letters  would  seem  to 
form  a  distinctive  feature  of  the  Dravidian  group. 

Of  the  phonetic  laws  resulting  from  a  comparison  of  these 
various  idioms  and  their  dialects,  we  shall  mention  but  one,  which 
is  common  also  to  the  Aryan  family.  The  Kanarese  k  often  answers 
to  the  Telugu  ch  and  to  a  Tamil  c  or  s.  Thus  the  word  ear,  which 
is  sevi  in  Tamil  and  chevi  in  Telugu,  becomes  Jcevi  in  Kanarese,  and 
this  last  must  have  been  the  primitive  form.  [Compare  the  Latin, 
Italian,  and  French  caelum,  cielo,  del,  where  the  initial,  as  pro- 
nounced, would  be  represented  by  the  English  letters  Jc,  ch,  and  s 
respectively.] 

There  are  two  other  interesting  facts  peculiar  to  the  Dravidian 
group.  The  letter  r  does  not  occur  as  an  initial,  hence,  foreign  words 
beginning  with  this  letter  must  be  preceded  by  a  vowel.  Thus  the 
Sanskrit  word  raja  appears  in  Tamil,  as  irdyan  or  irdsan.  Again, 
no  word  can  begin  with  a  soft  explosive,  h,  d,  &c,  while  no  hard 
explosive  can  occur  alone,  or  isolated,  in  the  body  of  the  word. 
Hence  Tamil,  in  borrowing  the  Sanskrit  word  gati,  renders  it  by 
Jcacii,  in  accordance  Avith  this  double  rule. 

But  the  phonetic  laws  of  these  important  idioms  have  not  been 
yet  sufficiently  studied  to  enable  us  definitely  to  fix  the  laws  that 
have  been  brought  into  play  in  the  formation  of  words.  Enough, 
however,  is  known  to  allow  of  our  classifying  the  Tamil,  Telugu, 

*  The  Dravidian  cerebral  r  also  has  been  identified  by  Mr.  F.  T.  Ellworthy 
with  the  south-western  or  west  Somersetshire  r ;  he  further  shows  how  com- 
pletely it  differs  from  the  trilled  r  of  the  north,  from  the  French  r  grassey&} 
and  the  Danish  uvular  r.  See  his  "  Dialect  of  West  Somersetshire."  Publi- 
cations of  the  English  Dialect  Society,  Series  D.- -Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         83 

and  their  congeners,  and  ascertaining  their  relative  ages.  Dravidian 
words  seem  ultimately  reducible  to  roots,  or  better,  to  dissyllabic 
roots,  nominal  and  verbal.  By  a  further  comparison  of  these  roots 
with  each  other,  we  see  that  the}",  in  their  turn,  can  be  reduced  to 
still  more  elementary  groups,  each  comprising  several  of  the  radicals 
in  question.  This  study  has  so  far  been  little  more  than  just 
entered  on ;  but  it  maybe  said  to  have  already  rendered  highly 
probable  the  theory  of  the-  primitive  monosyllabic  nature  of  the 
Dravidian  roots. 

Derivatives  are  formed  by  the  strictly  agglutinating  process,  in 
which  the  fresh  elements  are  always   suffixed.*    Thus,  to  a  verbal 
root  will  be  added  a  syllable  denoting  present  time,  then  another 
implying  negation,  then  the  sign  of  personality,  this  agglomeration 
resulting  in  a  word  meaning,  for  instance,  thou  dost  not  sen,   but 
which  should  be  thus  transcribed:  to  see  +  now  +  not  +  thou. 
The  sense  of  each  of  these  elements  is  always  present  to  the  mind 
of  the  Dravidian,  who  treats  them  just  as  we  do  our  pronouns, 
articles,    and   prepositions.       Doubtless    a   large  number  of  these 
derivatives  have  become  so  disguised  that  their  primitive  form  can 
no  longer  be  recognised.      But  many  others,   especially  those  in- 
tended to  be  placed  last,  and  most  of  those  serving  to  distinguish 
the   so-called    cases,   are  still  independent  words,   retaining  their 
natural    sense   of   rest,    contact,   vicinity,    conserpience,    &c.    &c. 
Many  of  those  derivative  elements  pass  from  one  allied  language  to 
another,  which  sufficiently  establishes  the  original  independence  of 
their  suffi 

If  it  is  easy  to  perceive  the  great  advantage  languages  of  this 
class  have  over  the  purely  monosyllabic  ones,  where  the  roots  are 
not  thus  subordinate  to  each  other,  it  is,  on  the  other  hand,  equally 

*  Not  always  suffixed,  the  vowels  a,  e,  i  (which  aro  tho  initials  of 
avan  =  that  one;  ivcm  =  this  one  ;  and  evan  =  which  one  ?)  being  prefixed, 
as  in  the-  Tamil:  "'"  =  that  thing;  ithu  —  this  thing;  ethu  =  which 
thing  ?  -  Note  by  7 

f   No  donbi  these  raffixes  wore  originally  independent   words,  as  were  the 

eorresponding  Semitic  and  Aryan  caee-endingB.     Bui  in  the  pre 

Tamil   language,  a  native  has  no  more  sense  of  tin;  primitive  and 

G    2 


84        SECOND    FOKM   OP   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

evident  how  surpassed  they  must  he  hy  inflectional  tongues,  in  all 
that  pertains  to  clearness  and  precision  of  expression.  A  certain 
vagueness  is  the  logical  consequence  of  the  multiplicity  of  forms 
in  certain  agglutinating  idioms.  Hence,  also,  certain  combinations 
peculiar  to  them,  which  seem  very  strange  to  us,  accustomed  as  we 
are  to  the  comparative  simplicity  of  the  Indo-European  languages. 
In  these  last,  the  elements  of  personal  relationship — amat,  he  loves; 
arnamus,  we  love — are  confined  to  verbal  inflection  or  conjugation. 
In  the  same  way  the  elements  intended  to  denote  subject,  object, 
position  in  space,  are  restricted  to  nominal  inflection,  or  declension : 
films,  son  (subject) ;  filium  (direct  object).  But  the  agglutinative 
system  allows  of  mixed  processes.  Thus  we  find  in  a  great  number 
of  agglutinating  tongues  nouns  combined  with  personal  suffixes; 
these  are  true  possessive  substantives.  In  Magyar,  for  example, 
the  noun  haz,  house,  and  the  personal  suffix  am,  in  the  verb 
denoting  the  first  person,  produce  the  noun  hazam,  my  house. 

We  meet  with  the  same  thing  in  the  Dravidian  group  ;  but  here, 
in  words  of  this  sort,  the  personal  element  imparts,  so  to  say,  an 
attributive  sense,  an  assertion  of  existence.  Thus,  in  Tamil,  tevarir 
(from  tevar,  God,  honorific  plural ;  and  ir,  second  personal  ending 
in  the  verb)  means,  you  are  God ;  and,  in  fact,  may  be  declined  in 
the  sense  of  you  who  are  God.  Here  is  another  significant  and 
curious  fact,  though  now  occurring  only  in  the  older  texts,  especially 
in  ancient  Tamil  poetry,  where  we  meet  with  forms  such  as 
sarndayJcku,  to  thee  that  hast  approached — which  must  be  thus 
analysed :  sdr,  to  reach,  approach,  arrive ;  n,  euphonic ;  d,  sign  of 

independent  meaning  of  the  accnsative  ei,  the  dative  Tcu,  or  the  genitive  in, 
than  a  Eoman  had  of  the  corresponding  em,  i,  and  is,  as  in — 

Tamil.  Latin. 

Ace.  Kallai  =  lapidem  =  a  stone  (object). 
Dat.  Kallukku  =  lapidi      =  to  a  stone. 
Gen.  Kallin  =  lapidis     =  of  a  stone. 
Nom.  Kal  =  lapis        =  a  stone  (agent). 

Nor  is  the  essential  difference  between  agglutination  and  true  inflection  at 
all  so  clear  in  such  cases  as  is  generally  assumed.  But  the  subject  is  too 
extensive  and  too  technical  to  be  here  discussed. — Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORil   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         S5 

the  past ;  ay,  thee,  thou,  verbal  second  personal  suffix  ;  k,  euphonic  ; 
and  lea,  to,  nominal  dative  suffix. 

Tulu,  one  of  the  least  important  of  the  Dravidian  group,  offers 
a  peculiarity  which  cannot  be  overlooked.  In  Tamil,  Telugu, 
Kanarese,  and  Malayalam,  every  verb  gives  rise  to  a  causative,  by 
the  insertion  of  a  certain  syllable  between  the  radical  and  the 
element  of  tense.  Thus,  in  Tamil,  from  seyven  =  I  will  do,  we  get 
seyvippen  =  I  will  cause  to  do.  But  in  Tidu  the  number  of  such 
secondary  forms  is  far  more  considerable.  Thus,  malpuve  =  I  do, 
gives  mdlpeve  =  I  usually  do  (frequentative) ;  malpave  =  I  cause  to 
do  (causative)  ;  malt rurr  =  1  do  do  (intensitive).  By  the  insertion 
of  a  fresh  element,  each  of  these  derivatives  may  become  negative : 
7ndipdvuji  =  l  do  not  cause  to  do,  and  so  on.  This  phenomenon  is 
again  met  with  in  Turkish,  where  the  verbs  teem  with  examples  of 
this  process,  and  where  one  single  word  expresses,  I  cause  to  love, 
I  can  love,  I  love  myself,  they  love  one  another  •  and  so  on. 

The  Dravidian  group  has  no  article,  although  in  old  documents 
instances  occasionally  occur  of  the  demonstrative  pronoun  being 
employed  in  a  determinative  sense.  The  adjective,  always 
unchangeable  (as  in  English),  is  generally  a  mere  noun  of  quality, 
invariably  preceding  the  noun  it  qualifies.  Distinction  of  gender 
must  have  originally  been  unknown,  and  even  now  it  is  applied 
only  to  human  beings  that  have  arrived  at  the  years  of  discretion. 
The  nouns  referring  to  children  are  neuter  in  all  the  group,  as  are 
also  the  names  of  women  in  the  singular  in  most  of  them.  The 
verb  has  three  tenses  only — present,  past,  and  indefinite  future — 
and  one  mood,  the  indicative.  Grammarians  speak  of  two  voices, 
a  positive  and  a  negative  \  but  this  last  is  easily  reduced  to  its 
primitive  form,  being  made  up  merely  of  a  negative  particle, 
inal  suffixes,  and  the  simple  radical  verb. 

The  Dravidian  vocabulary  implies  rather  a  low  order' of  civilisa- 
tion. Notwithstanding  the  pretended  consensus  of  all  mankind, 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Aryan  race  the  Dravidians  possessed 
neither  "God,"  nor  "soul;"  neither  "temple,"  nor"priest."  It 
..,  the  other  hand,  true  thai  they  lacked  words  for  "book," 
"writing,"  "grammar,"  and  "will."    Thej  could  not  count  as  far 


86  SECOND   FORM   OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.iv. 

as  1,000 ;  and  Telugu,  the  only  Dra vidian  tongue  possessing  a 
special  word  for  this  number,  has  derived  it  from  ve  =  ardour,  mul- 
tiplication. None  of  them  can  render  the  abstract  sense  of  the 
verbs  to  be,  to  have. 

After  this  sketch  the  reader,  we  may  hope,  wdl  be  able  to  form 
some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  Dravidian  tongues.  They  are 
agglutinating  idioms  arrested  in  the  development  of  their  forms  at 
a,  so  to  say,  premature  period,  and  this  check  was,  in  all  probability, 
due  to  the  Aryan  invasion.  But  however  that  be,  it  is  easy  to  assign 
to  the  Dravidian  system  its  natural  place  in  the  scale  of  the  aggluti- 
nating idioms.  They  must  be  comprised  among  the  first  in  the 
ascending  order,  that  is  among  those  immediately  following  the  iso- 
lating system,  and  anterior  to  Turkish,  Magyar,  Basque,  and  the 
American  languages.  They  show  no  trace  of  inflection,  and  the  vocal 
modifications  that  they  allow  of  are  purely  phonetic.  These  modi- 
fications in  no  way  answer  to  any  corresponding  change  of  sense 
in  the  word  so  modified. 

We  have  said  that  contact  with  the  Aryans  was  the  probable 
cause  of  the  Dravidians  entering  on  their  historic  life.  In  fact 
everything  points  to  the  Aryans  as  at  once  the  conquerors  of  the 
plains  and  forests  of  the  Deccan,  and  the  civUisers  of  their  savage 
occupants.  A  few  wandering  and  wretched  tribes,  rude  and 
difficult  of  access,  still  inhabit  some  scarcely  yet  fully  explored 
districts  of  this  fertile  region.  If  we  can  but  conjecture  that  the 
Dravidians  were  civilised  by  the  Aryan  invasion,  it  is  at  least 
certain  that  they  owe  to  it  their  writing  system.  Their  five  literary 
languages  are  usually  transcribed  by  means  of  three  different 
alphabets.  Tulu  employs  the  same  characters  as  the  Kanarese — 
Kanarese  itself  and  Telugu  being  written  hi  two  varieties  of  the 
same  alphabet,  the  forms  of  their  letters  presenting  very  little 
difference.  This  alphabet  is  characterised  by  the  general  round 
form  of  its  signs.  Tamil,  on  the  contrary,  possesses  a  special 
alphabet  in  which  the  square  form  prevails.  It  has,  moreover, 
twenty-eight  letters  only,  while  the  others  faithfully  reproduce  the 
order  and  full  number  of  the  Sanskrit  system.  Hence,  in  writing 
Sanskrit,   the  Tamil  Brahmans  make  use  of   a   special   alphabet 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.  87 

called  Qrantham,  derived  from  the  Devanagari,  and  from  which 
{lie  ordinary  Tamil  alphabet  is  itself  derived.  Intermediate  be- 
tween  the  Tamil  and  Kanaro-Telugu-  comes  the  Malayalam,  also 
derived  directly  from  the  Grantham.  The  old  Dravidian  in- 
scriptions are  written  in  two  different  characters,  one  peculiar  to 
Tamil,  the  other  used  in  writing  Sanskrit  and  the  indigenous 
tongues,  and  closely  resembling  the  old  Devanagari  forms.  The 
latter  would  seem  to  be  the  prototype  of  all  the  alphabets  of  the 
Decean,  whde  the  former,  according  to  Burnell,  was  borrowed 
directly  from  the  Semitic. 

It  may  be  asked  whether  races  without  a  writing  system  can  be 
paid  to  possess  a  literature  properly  so  called.  Many  instances 
occur  of  utterly  illiterate  peoples,  amongst  whom  long  compositions, 
always  in  poetry,  have  been  orally  handed  down  through  successive 
generations,  and  there  are  everywhere  to  be  found  popular  songs 
and  legends  that  have  never  been  committed  to  writing.  Though 
it  cannot  be  positively  asserted  that  this  was  the  case  amongst  the 
ancient  Dravidians,  still  their  literature  is  very  rich.  At  the  same 
time  all  the  works  of  which  it  is  composed,  down  to  the  smallest 
fragment,  are  long  posterior  to  their  first  contact  with  the  Aryans. 
So  far  as  number  and  worth  are  concerned,  the  Tamil  and  Telugu 
compositions  far  surpass  the  others;  though  Kanarese  still  offers  a 
curious  and  not  yet  explored  mine  of  wealth  to  the  researches  of 
the  learned. 

But  in  any  ease  the  Tamil  literature  remains  the  most  copious,  the 

mosl   fruitful,  the  most  interesting,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most 

ancient.     Nor  is  it  merely  a  simple  reflex  of  the  Sanskrit,  without 

any  originality  of   its  own.      It  has  had   the   good    fortune  to  have 

Ion     time  the  language  of  the  Shiva  sectaries,  as  well  as 

lie  Jaina  and   Buddhist  heretic  .  who  wrote  much,  and  whose 

works  are  the  masterpieces  of  ancienl  Tamil  poetry,     it  should  be 

added  thai  all  the  old  Dravidian  monuments,  or  al  Lea  I  those  pos- 

v  intrinsic  worth,  are  always   written   in   verse.     Tamil 

purer  in  point  of  style  and  mor rrecl   than  the  prose, 

and  much  mor<  eludes  foreign  words.     The  opposite  Is 

the  ca  e  in  Telugu,  Kanarese,  and  Malayalam  poetry,  in  which  Aryan 


88  SECOND   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

words  abound.     The  Tamil  vocabulary  is,  moreover,  very  rich,  and 
possesses  a  large  number  of  synonyms. 

Dravidian  literature  is  particularly  rich  in  moral  poems,  and  in 
collections  of  wise  saws  and  aphorisms,  which  constitute  the  most 
ancient  monuments  of  Tamil  poetry.  It  has  also  produced  long  epic 
poems,  remarkahle  for  the  exaggeration  and  minuteness  of  their 
details,  and  otherwise  not  very  attractive  to  Europeans.  To  a  more 
recent  period  must  be  referred  a  number  of  lyric  songs,  full  of  energy, 
some  monotonous  religious  hymns,  and  erotic  tales  of  a  very  licen- 
tious character.  Still  more  recently  were  composed  some  scientific 
works,  almost  exclusively  medical.  At  the  present  day  the  Dra vidians 
can  do  no  more  than  hash  up  then*  venerable  poetry,  faithful  to  the 
conservative  instinct  which  Caldwell  justly  condemns,  and  which 
one  of  their  most  celebrated  grammarians  has  thus  formulated  : 
"  Propriety  of  composition  consists  in  writing  on  the  same  subjects, 
with  the  same  expressions,  and  in  accordance  with  the  same  plan,  as 
the  classic  writers." 

§  14. — TJie  Finno-Tataric  or  Undo- Altaic  Languages. 

Let  us  state  at  once  that  these  are  divided  into  five  groups : 
Samoyedic,  Finnic,  Turkic  or  Tataric,  Mongolian,  Tungusian. 

They  are  entitled  to  special  attention  in  this  work,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  historical  importance  of  some  amongst  them,  but 
also  because  of  their  structure  itself,  which  is  so  frequently  and  so 
justly  appealed  to  in  illustration  of  the  agglutinating  stage  generally 
of  articulate  speech.  The  simplest  plan  will  be  to  pass  first  in 
review  the  five  groups  and  the  languages  comprised  in  them,  and 
then  proceed  to  discuss  the  questions  of  their  affinity,  of  the  best 
name  by  which  to  embrace  them  all,  and  lastly,  of  the  extravagant 
"  Turanian  "  theory,  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  there  will  soon  be  no 
longer  any  necessity  even  of  refuting. 

The  various  idioms  composing  the  five  groups  present  great 
differences,  as  well  in  then  structure  as  in  their  vocabulary.  Still, 
whatever  opinion  we  may  form  of  the  actual  degree  of  their  affinity 
to  each  other,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  they  have  certain  morphological 
features  in  common,  sufficiently  marked  to  allow  of  their  being 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.  89 

comprised  in  a  general  notice  of  this  sort.  Thus  they  all  in  some 
way  or  other  suffix  the  possessive  pronoun  to  the  noun,  and  divide 
the  conjugation  into  definite  and  indefinite,  the  first  being  marked 
by  the  union  of  the  direct  pronominal  object  to  the  verb.  They 
are  alike  also  in  the  main  features  of  their  syntax,  in  their  method 
of  determining  the  noun,  lastly,  and  above  all,  in  their  vocalic 
harmony,  a  most  important  fact,  "which  will  challenge  special  notice 
in  its  proper  place. 

(1)  The  Samoyedic  Group 

(Stretches  from  the  White  Sea  eastwards  along  the  shores  of  the 
Arctic  Ocean  in  Europe,  and  the  western  portion  of  the  coast  of 
Siberia  in  Asia.  About  20,000  people  speak  Samoyede,  of  which 
there  are  five  principal  dialects,  nearly  all  of  which  are  again  split 
up  into  a  immber  of  sub-dialects. 

Yurdk  is  spoken  in  European  Russia  and  in  the  north-west  of 
Siberia  as  far  as  the  river  Yenisei. 

Yenisei  Samoyede  occupies  the  region  watered  by  the  Lower 
Yenisei. 

Tagwi  is  spoken  more  to  the  east,  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Khatanga. 

Ostyak  Samoyede  lies  more  to  the  south-west,  about  the  Middle 
Obi,  and  in  the  direction  of  the  Tom  and  Chulim. 

Kniini.txir  is  spoken  by  a  small  tribe  in  South  Siberia. 

The  Finn  <  lastren,  one  of  the  founders  of  Uralo-Altaic  philology, 

published    a   comprehensive    and    scientific    treatise    on    the 

Samoyede  dialects,  in  which  he  carefully  compares  them  together.* 

In  his  opinion  Samoyede  is  more  closely  related  to  Finnish  than  to 

other  Uralo-Altaic  group,  both  in  its  structure  and  component 

element  -. 

The  vowel  system  is  simple  enough,  whereas  that  of  the  con- 
;  if  highly  developed.  Of  these  there  are  more  than  thirty, 
amongsl  them  the  liquids  t,  d,  I,  8,  and  z. 

We  shall  speak  farther  on  of  progressive  vowel  harmony,  a 
feature  of  the  Uralo-Altaic  system,  which  is  farfrom  being  uniformly 

*  "  Gramnmtik  der  Samojedischen  Sprachen."    St.  Petersburg,  L854. 


90        SECOND   FORM   OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      [Chap.  iy. 

carried  out  in  the  Samoyede  group.  1  icing  in  fact  fairly  developed 
in  the  Kamassic  dialect  alone.  Here  the  strong  vowels  (a,  u,  o) 
cannot  occur  together  with  the  weak  (a,  it,  6),  while  the  neutrals 
(/,  e)  may  readily  occur  in  connection  with  either  the  strong  or  the 
weak. 

As  in  the  other  Uralo-Altaic  tongues,  declension  is  effected  in 
Samoyede  by  agglutinating  secondary  or  relational  particles  to  the 
principal  root.  Thus,  in  Ostyak  Samoyede  the  suffix  n  expressing 
possession,  loga,  fox,  and  hide,  raven,  make  logan,  of  the  fox,  kulen, 
of  the  raven.  If  to  these  themes  he  added  the  plural  element,  la, 
we  get  logdla,  the  foxes,  logalan,  of  the  foxes  ;  hulela,  the  ravens, 
I:nhlan,  of  the  ravens ;  than  which  process  nothing  can  he  simpler. 

(2)  Tlic  Finnic  Group 

Is  of  far  greater  interest  than  the  preceding,  occupying  a  more 
prominent  position  than  any  other  of  the  whole  family.  It  has 
been  called  Ugrian,  or  Finno-Ugric,  or  Ugro-Finnic,  hut  the 
languages  composing  it  have  not  yet  been  definitely  distinguished 
from  each  other.  Still,  most  writers  recognise  five  sub-groups,  thus 
classified  by  Dormer  : 

West  Finnic  :  Suomi,  Karelian,  Wepsic,  Livonian,  Krewinian, 
Esthonian,  "Wotic. 

Lapponlc. 

Finno-Permian  :  Siryenian,  Permian,  "Wotyak. 

Volga-Finnic :  Mordvinian,  Cheremissian. 

Ugrlc  :  Magyaric,  "Wogulic,  Ostyak. 

Some  writers  reduce  these  five  groups  to  four,  by  including 
Lapponie  with  the  West  Finnic. 

Suomi  occupies  the  greater  part  of  Finland,  but  does  not  stretch 
along  the  whole  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia,  where  Swedish  is 
spoken  at  some  points,  as  about  Vasa.  On  the  south  it  touches 
only  a  few  unimportant  points  of  the  Gidf  of  Finland,  the  northern 
shores  of  which,  as  about  Helsingfors,  are  also  Swedish.  There 
are,  moreover,  some  Finns  in  the  neighbourhood  of  St.  Petersburg, 
but  altogether  they  cannot  number  2,000,000. 


Chip.  i\\]      SECOND   FOEM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.  91 

With  the  Suomi  are  grouped  the  Karelian,  reaching  northwards 
to  Lapland,  southwards  to  the  Gulf  of  Finland  and  Lake  Ladoga, 
and  east  to  the  "White  Sea  and  Lake  Onega ;  the  Chudic,  situated 
in  a  very  scattered  district  south  of  Lake  Onega;  the  Wepsic, 
which  is  northern  Chudic;  and  Wotic,  which  is  southern  Chudic; 
lastly,  Krewinian,  spoken  in  Courland. 

Esthonian,  or  rather  Elide  or  Este,  is  much  less  widely  diffused 
than  Suomi,  being  restricted  to  the  greater  part  of  the  south  coast 
of  the  Gulf  of  Finland  and  the  northern  half  of  Livonia  (Dorpat). 
Its  literature  also  is  much  inferior  to  the  Suomi.  There  are  two 
principal  dialects,  those  of  Level  and  Dorpat,  which  are  again 
divided  into  several  sub-dialects,  but  have  never  succeeded  in 
producing  a  common  Uterary  standard,  notwithstanding  the  attempt 
made  to  develop  such  a  standard  towards  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.*  Hence  Esthonian  literature  is  far  inferior  to  that 
of  the  Suomi. 

Livonian  is  now  almost  confined  to  the  north-west  corner  of 
Courland,  a  tract  some  few  leagues  in  extent.  Landwards  it  is 
continually  encroached  upon  by  Lettic,  an  Aryan  tongue  allied  to 
Lithuanian. 

Lei  us  here  say  a  few  words  on  the  grammar,  first  of  the 
SuomLt  and  then  of  the  Esthonian. 

The  Suomi  consonantal  system  is  very  simple.  Besides  the 
explosives  Z\  t,.p}  it  possesses  /'.  /,  m,  n  ,  another  nasal  like  that  of 
tli-  German  lang;  8,  />.  v,  y  (written  j);  but  it  rejects  both  the 
aspirated  explosives  and/.  The  weak  explosives,  g,  <l,  l>,  occur, 
but  rather  as  foreign  elements,  or  replacing  the  older  letters  /•,  /.  />. 

I  of  the  hiatus,  and  any  vowel  may,  as  a  rule,  close 
the  word,  except  '•  ;  but  this  is  not  true  of  the  consonants,  n  being 
most  frequently  met  with  at  the  end  of  words. 

i-  the  principle  of  vowel  harmony  more  developed 
than  in  Suomi.     If  the  vowel  of  the  root  be  strong,  those  of  the 

•  Wiedemann,  "  Grammatik  der  Eahtnischeo  Spraohe."  St.  Petersburg, 
IS?:,. 

■f  K<  Ugren,  "  Die  Grnndzuge  der  Pinnischen  Spraohe  mit  Rucksioht  auf 
don  Oral-Altai  chen  Spraci  Berlin,  1M7. 


92         SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      [Chap.  it. 

suffixes  must  also  be  strong ;  if  weak,  tlic  suffixes  must  similarly 
be  weak  ;  and  if  neutral,  the  suffixes  must  still  be  weak. 

Words  are  never  formed  of  prefixes,  so  that  the  principal  root 
always  stands  first ;  and  it  is  on  this  syllable  also,  as  in  Magyar, 
that  the  leading  accent  falls.  Altogether,  Suomi  is  an  extremely 
harmonious  language,  readily  assimilating  consonants,  especially 
those  that  end  the  root,  with  the  initials  of  the  formative  elements. 
No  doubt  this  assimilation  is  not  constant,  but  when  it  does  not 
take  place  another  process  is  adopted,  to  avoid  the  clash  of  two 
consonants  of  different  orders.  This  consists  in  introducing  (at  least 
in  speaking,  if  not  in  writing)  a  very  short  vowel  between  such 
letters.     Thus  pitha  is  pronounced  pitika. 

The  case-endings  of  inflectional  languages  are  expressed,  as  in 
other  agglutinating  tongues,  by  means  of  suffixes  attached  to  the 
radical.  Thus  n  denotes  the  genitive,  as  in  Jcarhu  =  the  bear; 
Jcarhun  =  oi  the  bear.  The  plural  sign  is  t  for  the  subject,  but 
otherwise  i,  inserted  between  the  root  and  the  relational  suffix. 
Thus  the  theme  lapse  =  child,  gives  lap>sen  =  of  the  child ;  lapset  = 
the  children  ;  lapsein  —  of  the  children. 

The  personal  pronouns  are  added  to  the  noun  in  order  to  express 
the  person  to  which  it  refers.  The  first  person  so  affixed  is  ni, 
singular  ;  mme,  plural ;  second,  si  and  nne ;  the  third,  nsa  (or  ?isa, 
according  to  the  exigencies  of  vowel  harmony),  for  both  numbers. 
Thus  tapa  =  custom,  gives  tapani  =  my  custom;  tapamme  =  our 
customs;  tapansa  =  his  custom,  or  their  customs. 

Verbal  modifications  are  also  effected  by  suffixes,  the  root  always 
coming  first,  after  which  the  causative,  diminutive,  or  frequentative 
elements  ;  then  the  modal ;  the  personal ;  and  lastly,  the  subject  of 
the  action. 

The  Esthonian  consonantal  system  presents  nothing  very  unusual, 
except  that  t,  <l,n,  r,  I,  s,  z,  become  liquid  under  certain  conditions, 
in  which  case  they  take  a  small  stroke  to  the  right  d',  n',  &c.  The 
Dorpat  dialect  utters  g,  d,  and  b,  more  forcibly  than  the  others, 
occasionally  changing  them  to  the  corresponding  I;  t,  p.  Amongst 
the  nine  vowels  is  the  Trench  u,  written  il,  besides  a  special  sound 


Chap,  it.]      SECOND   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        93 

between  o  and  e.  These  vowels  are  both  long  and  short,  and  some- 
times form  diphthongs. 

Vowel  harmony  is  far  from  being  uniformly  developed  in  Estho- 
nian,  in  fact,  occurring  only  in  the  eastern  Dorpat  dialect,  though 
traces  of  it  are  evident  in  the  western,  as  well  as  to  the  west  and 
south  of  the  Revel  dialect. 

The  principal  accent  falls  on  the  first  syllable,  this,  as  in  Suomi, 
being  the  radical. 

The  so-called  cases  are  formed  in  the  same  way  as  in  other  agglu- 
tinating tongues,  then*  number  being  limited  only  by  the  number  of 
post-positions  that  may  be  attached  to  the  noun.  Hence  they  are 
fixed  by  one  writer  at  twelve,  by  another  at  twenty,  this  very 
uncertainty  being  of  itself  sufficient  to  show  how  essentially  such 
pretended  cases  differ  from  the  true  cases  of  the  Aryan  system. 

Conjugation  also  is  entirely  analogous  to  that  of  the  Suomi. 

Lapponic  occupies  the  extreme  north-west  of  Russia,  to  the  north 
of  Karelian,  and  some  regions  in  the  north  of  Sweden  and  Norway. 
It  presents  four  dialectic  varieties,  and  its  grammar  closely  resembles 
tli  I  of  the  cognate  tongues,  Suomi  and  Esthonian. 

The  Volga-Finnic  idioms  are  divided  into  two  branches  :  Chere- 
un  and  Mordvinian.  The  first  is  spoken  by  some  200,000 
persons,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Volga,  a  little  to  the  west  of  Kasan 
and  east  of  ISTijni  Novgorod,  without,  however,  reaching  very  closely 
to  the  environ-!  of  either  city.  There  is  a  highland  and  lowland 
variety.  Mordvinian  is  spoken  by  nearly  700,000  people,  on  either 
side  "1'  the  Volga,  about  Simbirsk,  Samara,  Stavropol,  and  some 
points  still  farther  south.  It  is  divided  into  two  dialects,  the  Erze 
and  Moksha.  Between  the  Mordvinian  and  the  Cheremissian  is  the 
( lhavak,  belonging  not  to  the  Finnic,  but  to  the  Turkic  group. 

Farther  north  are  the  Permian,  spoken  by  about  60,000;  the 
Siryenian,  by  80,000 ;  and  the  Wotyak,  by  upwards  of  200,000 
people.  Wotyak  occupies  a  relatively  compact  district,  to  the  north- 
east of  the  Cheremissian,  and  south  of  Glatzov.  Permian  stretches 
to  the  north  of  the  Wotyak,  west,  of  the  river  Kama,  as  far  north  as 
Solikansk.     Siryenian,  still  farther  north  of  its  congeners,  occupies 


94        SECOND   FORM   OP   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      [Chap.  iv. 

a  much,  more  extended  territory,  reaching  northwards  to  the  Samo- 
yede  zone,  and,  touching  on  the  Wogulic,  which,  with  Magyaric 
and  Ostyak,  forms  the  Ugric  group.  Wogul  is  spoken  by  about 
7,000,  and  Ostyak  by  some  20,000  persons ;  the  first  lying  east  of 
Siryenian,  the  second  still  farther  east,  along  a  considerable  stretch 
of  the  river  Obi,  as  far  north  as  the  Samoyede.  Wogul  comprises  at 
least  two  dialects,  while  there  are  varieties  of  the  Ostyak  at  Irkutsk, 
Surgut,  and  Obdorsk. 

Magyaric  must  occupy  us  more  at  length.  Its  geographical 
position,  the  political  relations  of  the  five  millions  speaking  it,  and 
its  somewhat  interesting  literature,  entitle  it  to  a  special  place  in 
the  Finnic  group. 

Magyar,  or  Hungarian,  occupies  two  regions  of  unequal  extent, 
and  separated  from  each  other  by  a  tract  some  forty-five  or  fifty 
leagues  wide.  The  principal  or  western  division  forms  an  irregular 
pentagon,  at  whose  angles  are  the  towns  of  Presburg  (in  Magyar, 
Porsony),  Unghvar  (which  is  Slovak),  Nagi  Banya  (Magyar),  Xovi 
Sad  (in  German,  ISFeusatz,  where  Syrmian  Serbe  joins  it),  and 
Limbach,  a  little  to  the  north  of  Warasdin  in  Croatia.  Thus  the 
extreme  length  of  this  pentagon  is  a  hundred  and  odd  leagues  by 
some  eighty  in  breadth.  It  does  not,  however,  form  a  compact 
territory,  being  encroached  upon  on  the  north  by  the  Slovak,  by 
Servian  on  the  south,  and  German  on  the  west  and  south.  The 
eastern  division  is  more  homogeneous,  though  only  about  a  sixth  in 
extent  of  the  western.  It  is  situated  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
Ptumanian  region,  with  two  German  tracts  on  its  western  frontier 
(Mediasch  and  Kronstadt).  It  forms  the  extreme  south-east  portion 
of  the  kingdom  of  Hungary,  including  no  places  of  any  particular 
note  (Maros,  Yasarhely,  Udvarhely,  etc.). 

Many  unsuccessful  attempts  have  been  made  to  explain  the  word 
Magyar.  Hungarian  would  seem  to  mean  Hun-itgrian,  which 
agrees  well  enough  "with  their  origin,  and  with  what  we  know  of 
their  arrival  in  Central  Europe  in  the  ninth  century.*     The  inva- 

*  Sayous,  "  Les  Origines  et  l'Epoque  Pa'i'enne  de  l'Histoire  des  Hongrois," 
Paris,  1874  ;  Piiedl,  "  Magyarische  Grammatik,"  Vienna,  185S,  Introduction  ; 
Castren,  "  Uber  die  Ursitze  des  Finnischen  Yolkes,"  Helsingfors,  1849. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        95 

sion  of  Attila  is  with  much,  probability  supposed  to  have  heen  but 
a  first  incursion  of  races  closely  allied  to  the  present  Magyars. 

But  in  any  case,  these  are  now  totally  isolated  from  the  other 
Finnic  peoples,  and  are  hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by  the  German, 
Eumanian,  and  various  Slavonic  tongues,  and  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  their  language  must  ultimately  die  out,  notwithstanding 
the  great  advantages  secured  to  it  by  political  circumstances.  But 
it  will  not  disappear  without  having  left  a  worthy  history  behind 
it.  Its  most  ancient  record  dates  from  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
century,  since  when  it  has  been  regularly  traced,  though  its  pro- 
ductions have  mostly  remained  sealed  books  for  the  generality  of 
the  foreign  men  of  letters. 

There  are  a  good  many  Magyar  dialects,  some  spoken  in  Lower, 
others  in  Upper  Hungary.  However,  they  differ  but  slightly  from 
each  other,  and  it  may  even  be  said  that  the  language  has  not 
undergone  any  considerable  change  from  the  date  of  its  oldest 
historic  monuments,  though  a  large  amount  of  foreign  elements  has 
been  absorbed,  chiefly  from  Slavonic,  and  a  few  from  German. 

All  the  languages  here  briefly  touched  upon  are  undoubtedly 
related  and  derived  from  some  common  source.  The  true  compara- 
tive method  has  so  far  been  but  partially  applied  to  them,  the 
labour  of  doing  bo  being  all  the  more  delicate,  inasmuch  as  idioms 
are  here  dealt  with  that  have  been  separated  from  each  other  for 
many  centuries,  and  have  been  subjected  to  the  almost  continual 
influence  of  the  Aryan  tongues,  whose  inner  structure  is  superior  to 
their  own. 

A  comparison  of  the  various  Finnic  idioms  reveals  some  singular 
phonetic  variations,  though  presenting,  on  the  whole,  nothing  very 
novel.  Here  are  some  cases  in  point:  The  hand  in  Suomi  is  hate, 
in  Wepsic  hazi,  in  Wotic  tchaei,  in  Esthonian  had,  in  Livonian 
/•"/v.  in  Lapp  giet  andMf,  in  Siryenian,  Permian,  and  Wbtyak  hi, 
in  WLordvinian  hed,  in  Cheremissian  het,  in  Ostyak  hit  or  k6t,  in 
1  hat,  and  in  Magyar  h&&  Fish  is  hala  in  Suomi,  guolle  in 
Lapp,  hoi  in  Mordvinian,  hul  in  Wbgul,  hal  in  Magyar. 

In  general,  Magyar  seems  to  have  reduced  01  shortened  the 
primitive  words,  whilst  Suomi  shows  a  very  decided  tendency  to 


96  SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iy. 

multiply  the  vowels.  A  comparison  of  old  with  modem  Magyar 
shows  analogous  facts,  proving  that  it  has  within  itself  undergone 
changes  that  now  normally  take  place  between  it  and  its  congeners. 
Amongst  these  idioms,  the  best  studied  are  the  Suomi,  Magyar, 
and  Esthonian,  very  little  having  so  far  been  done  for  the  others. 

Magyar  literature  is  rich,  its  most  interesting  and  original  works 
being  in  poetry.  Since  the  kingdom  of  Hungary  has  acquired  fresh 
importance  at  the  expense  of  the  adjoining  Servian  and  Rumanian 
provinces,  its  language  also  has  at  least  in  this  respect  grown  into 
greater  consideration.  But  its  works  have  been  too  frequently 
thought  out  in  German,  strongly  reflecting  the  foreign  education  of 
the  writers.  Besides  the  Magyar,  Suomi  literature  is  almost  the 
only  other  that  offers  any  interest.  Its  principal  monument  is  the 
great  mythological  epic  of  the  "  Kalevala." 

It  is  impossible  here  to  attempt  anything  like  a  complete  summary 
of  the  grammatical  structure  of  these  languages,  but  we  may  briefly 
describe  their  more  general  features.  Beginning  with  some  details 
of  the  Magyar  phonetic  system,  we  shall  then  devote  a  few  words 
to  the  particular  sounds  of  the  other  members  of  the  group,  con- 
cluding with  a  glance  at  their  formative  processes. 

Magyar  phonetics  are  not  very  complex.  Seven  short  vowels, 
a,  e  (more  or  less  open),  i,  o,  u,  o  =  French  eu,  ii  =  French  u,  with 
their  seven  corresponding  long  vowels,  these  last  being  distinguished 
in  writing  by  a  stroke  to  the  right :  a',  e,  o,  u'.  The  consonants  are 
not  very  numerous,  but  some,  such  as  ty,  gy,  are  peculiar.  It  might, 
perhaps,  be  better  to  use  one  sign  for  their  notation,  which  is  other- 
wise detestable,  as,  for  instance,  in  its  use  of  sz,  zs,  and  s.  Sz  is  our 
ordinary  s,  zs  is  the  Croatian  and  Bohemian  z,  that  is  the  French  j, 
and  s  is  the  English  sh.  Unfortunately  it  would  be  now  useless  to 
attempt  a  reform  of  this  vicious  system.  The  Slavs  have  long  been 
alive  to  the  importance  of  some  change  for  the  better,  and  have  to 
a  great  extent  realised  it  •  but  national  prejudice  still  stands  in  the 
way  of  any  reform  in  Magyar  orthography.  Eniile  Picot  has  drawn 
up  a  synoptical  table  of  the  correspondence  of  written  symbols  for 
a  number  of  the  more  important  languages,  which  may  be  consulted 
with  advantage,  especially  in  connection  with  geographical  names. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.         97 

In  it  the  TTralo-Altaic  family  is  represented  "by  Magyar  and 
Turkish.* 

As  in  Suomi,  the  root  in  Magyar  comes  first,  and  is  rarely  pre- 
ceded hy  a  prefix,  such  cases  being  probably  due  to  Aryan  influence. 
At  least  the  history  of  the  language  shows  that  they  are  recent. 
As  in  Suomi  also,  the  accent  falls  on  the  radical,  or  rather  always 
on  the  first  syllable  of  the  word,  even  when  that  syllable  happens 
to  be  a  prefix. 

Magyar  derivation  is  extremely  simple.  The  plural  is  denoted 
by  an  agglutinated  element :  lidz-ak  =  the  houses ;  atyd-k  =  the 
fathers  ;  and  the  case  elements  are  placed  after  this  plural  particle  : 
aiya  = pater  ;  atyat=patrem;  atydk  =  patres  (nom.) ;  atydkat  = 
patres  (ace). 

Magyar  has  developed  an  article — a  before  consonants,  az  before 
vowels  :  az  ember  =  the  man. 

It  is  rich  in  verbal  elements,  incorporating  the  third  person,  when 

it  is  the  direct  object,  as  is  the  case  with  all  other  members  of  the 

Finnish  group.     Thus  : 

Vdr  =  he  awaits  ; 
Vdrja  =  he  awaits  him  ; 
Vdrjdk  =  they  await  him  ; 

where  ja  denotes  the  direct  pronominal  object,  and  1:  the  plural. 

But  Magyar  is  capable  even  of  incorporating  the  second  pro- 
nominal object,  though  only  when  the  subject  is  the  first  person 
singular  :  vdrdk  =  I  await ;  vdrlak  =  I  await  thee.  This  is  a  point 
to  be  carefully  noted,  and  we  shall  see  farther  on  that  Basque  goes 
even  farther,  incorporating  both  the  direct  and  the  indirect  personal 
objects,  bo  as  to  express  in  one  word  not  only  "  I  give  it,"  but  "I 
give  it  to  thee." 

M.  I'.udenz  reckons  in  the  Ugrian  group  collectively  nine  vowels 
and  thirty-three  consonants,  amongst  which  the  French,/',  the  two- 
fold German  <7/.  the  semi-linguals  of  the  Ostyak,  the  weak  and 
sibilant  Lapp  d,  and  the  liquid  cunsonants.  None  of  these  idioms 
really  indigenous  graphic  system. 

*  Picot,  "Tableau  Phonftique  dea  Prinoipalea  L^n^ues  UBuelles,"  in 
'•  liovue  do  Lingaistiqae  et  de  Philologie  Compared,"  \  i.  p.  863.  Paris,  1871- 

n 


98         SECOND   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      [Chap.iv. 

The  Finnic  tongues  ignore  gender,  "but  possess  the  three  numhers, 
dual  and  plural  "being  expressed  hy  different  suffixes.  The  article 
is  used  in  accordance  with  our  practice  in  Magyar  alone,  where  it  is 
an  before  vowels,  and  a  before  consonants.  Mordvinian,  however, 
is  able  to  determine  the  nouns,  as  in  Basque,  by  suffixing  to  them 
the  demonstrative  pronoun  sll  or  se  of  the  third  person.  Siryenian 
and  Wotyak  have  something  analogous  to  this,  and  Budenz  finds 
traces  of  it  in  other  members  also  of  the  same  family.  Thus  in 
Magyar  the  affix  of  the  third  person  a  or  e  =  his,  her,  is  a  derivative 
element  common  enough,  as  in  Pest  varosa  =  the  city  of  Pest, 
literally,  Pest  its  city. 

As  in  all  other  true  agglutinating  tongues,  here  also  real  declension 
is  wanting.  Post-positions  and  particles  are  used,  answering  in  sense 
to  our  prepositions,  but  tacked  on  at  the  end  of  the  word,  without 
any  separating  mark  in  writing.  In  the  same  way  are  formed  the 
augmentatives,  diminutives,  and  superlatives,  but  the  suffixes 
answering  to  the  Aryan  case-endings  always  come  last,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  they  do  not  affect  the  inner  sense  of  the  root, 
merely  indicating  its  manner  of  being  (to,  at,  in,  with,  of,  &c.)  in 
relation  to  the  other  terms  of  the  proposition.  The  number  of 
these  particles  being  considerable,  writers  who  have  conceived  the 
eccentric  idea  of  composing  grammars  of  the  agglutinating  tongues 
on  the  classic  model,  have  given  them  a  number  of  pretended  cases, 
for  which  they  have  invented  the  most  fantastic  names  in  ive,  utterly 
ignoring  the  nature  of  speech  in  general,  and  of  the  agglutinating 
type  of  language  in  particular. 

In  this  last  the  verb  presents  itself  with  an  endless  suite  of 
forms,  whose  derivation,  however,  offers  no  difficulty.  In  the  first 
place  the  root,  expressing  the  idea  of  action  in  a  general  way,  may 
receive  successive  additions,  showing  that  the  action  is  done  or 
suffered,  possible,  compulsory,  or  voluntary,  and  so  on.  Thus  arise 
secondary  radicals,  that  is  so  many  derived  forms.  Add  to  this  the 
incorporation  of  the  third  personal  pronoun  when  it  is  direct  object 
— I  see  Mm,  for  instance,  thus  becoming  one  word.  All  the  Finnic 
idioms  make  use  of  this  incorporation,  while  Magyar  further 
incorporates  the  second  person  objective,  when  the  first  person  is 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        99 

subject.  TVogul  does  the  same  whatever  he  the  subject,  and,  lastly, 
Mordvinian  is  able  so  to  express  even  the  first  person  objective. 
We  shall  have,  for  example,  in  the  Moksha  dialect,  palasa,  I  em- 
brace him  ;  af  palatansa,  he  does  not  embrace  thee ;  palamait, 
thou  didst  embrace  me.  Forms,  however,  exist  in  which  the  object 
is  not  so  incorporated,  nor  can  any  of  them  incorporate  the  indirect 
object,  as  does  the  Basque,  when  it  throws  into  one  word  the 
phrase,  I  give  it  to  thee. 

These  few  remarks,  notwithstanding  their  brevity,  will,  we 
trust,  suffice  to  render  clear  the  mechanism  of  these  interesting 
members  of  the  Finnic  group. 

(3)  Tlie  Turkic  Group, 

Known  also  by  the  name  of  Tatar,  by  a  sorry  play  of  words  (or 
misconception)  changed  to  Tartar.  The  tribes  speaking  its  numerous 
dialects  now  stretch  from  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  to  the 
banks  of  the  Lena  in  Eastern  Siberia.  Their  original  point  of 
departure  is  generally  said  to  be  Turkestan,  whence  within  the 
historic  period  countless  daring  hordes  have  gone  forth,  overrunning 
vast  regions  in  Asia,  and  penetrating  westwards  through  Europe  as 
far  as  French  territory.* 

Philologically  considered,  the  Turks,  in  the  widest  sense  of  the 
word,  are  divided  into  five  families,  each  speaking  a  distinct 
language,  which  in  its  turn  is  itself  split  up  into  a  greater  or  less 
number  of  dialectic  varieties.  Coming  westwards  and  southwards, 
these  live  branches  are:  The  Yakutic,  Kirghiz,  Wiguric,  Nogairic, 
and  Turkish. 

Yakutic  is  spoken  by  about  200,000  people  in  the  midst  of 
Tungusian  tribes  in  the  north-cast  of  Siberia. 

The   Black  Kirghiz,  or  Burnt,  occupy  that  part  of  Turkestan 
attached  to  the  Chinese  empire.     The  Kazak  Kirghiz  extend  more 
wards,  as  far  as  the  Aral  Sea  and  to  the  north  of  the  Caspian. 

Of  the   Uiguric  there  are  three  varieties  :    The    Uigur  proper, 

*  Abel    Rcmusat,    "  Recherches  sur    les    Languca    Tatares,"   p.  328. 
Paris,  1820. 

II   2 


100        SECOND   FORM  OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

the  Jagataic,  and  the  Turkoman  (or  Turkmenian).  Of  all  its 
congeners  Uiguric  has  attained  the  highest  degree  of  literary 
culture.  It  was  reduced  to  "writing  so  early  as  the  fifth  century, 
as  evidenced  hy  Chinese  authors,  employing  an  original  alphahet, 
since  lost,  and  replaced  under  the  influence  of  the  jSestorian 
missionaries  hy  a  system  "based  on  the  Syriac  alphahet,  as  is  also 
that  of  the  Mandchus,  the  Kalmuks,  and  the  Mongolians. 

Nogairic  is  spoken  by  about  50,000  persons  toward  the  north 
of  the  Volga,  at  Astrakhan,  in  some  districts  between  the  Black 
Sea  and  the  Caspian,  in  a  small  tract  north  of  the  Sea  of  Azov, 
and  throughout  the  Crimea.  It  is  the  language  of  the  Eussian 
Tatars,  properly  so  called.  The  KumuTc  variety  is  spoken  on  the 
north-east  of  the  Caucasus. 

The  fifth  family  is  that  of  the  Turkish  dialects  proper,  with 
which  is  included  the  Cliuvak,  spoken,  as  above  stated,  between 
the  two  Finnic  idioms,  Mordvinian  and  Cheremissian.  It  occupies 
a  somewhat  compact  territory  to  the  south-west  of  Kazan,  and  a 
great  number  of  detached  points  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Simbirsk. 
Chuvak  presents  some  remarkable  features,  though  it  cannot  be 
looked  on  with  some  writers  as  a  mixture  of  Turkish  and  Finnic. 
M.  Schott  has  clearly  shown  that  it  belongs  to  the  Turkish  group, 
some  connecting  it  rather  with  Xogairic  than  with  Turkish  proper. 
Turkish,  which  for  most  Europeans  is  the  most  interesting 
member  of  this  fifth  group,  is  not,  however,  to  be  considered  as  the 
purest  and  most  correct.  It  varies  very  strikingly  in  the  different 
localities  where  it  is  spoken,  the  form  current  in  Constantinople, 
for  instance,  being  much  freer  from  Arabic  elements  than  the 
official  and  learned  Osmanli.  Of  this  we  shall  give  a  rapid  sketch. 
Such  is  the  clearness  and  precision  of  its  structure  that  it  may  be 
regarded  as  the  most  striking  type  of  an  agglutinating  language. 
There  is  no  lack  of  Turkish  grammars,  mostly,  however,  wanting 
in  critical  discernment.  La  our  remarks  we  shall  avail  ourselves 
mainly  of  that  of  Eedhouse.* 

Turkish  is  written  with  the  Arabic  alphabet,  though  this  is  but 

*  "  Grammaire  Raisonnee  de  la  Langue  Ottomane."     Paris,  1846. 


Chap.  rv.]      SECOND   FORM   OP  SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       101 

little  suited  to  the  purpose.  It  has  already  "been  stated,  and  will 
he  again  presently  repeated,  that  in  the  Uralo-Alta'ic  group  the 
vowels  play  a  chief  part,  whereas  the  Arahic  graphic  system  lends 
itself  very  indifferently  to  vowel  notation.  The  Turkish  alphabet 
consists  of  thirty-one  characters,  each  susceptible  of  twelve  modify- 
in"'  marks,  some  representing  the  several  vowels,  others  doubling 
the  consonant  or  suppressing  it  altogether.  But  apart  from  this, 
the  phonetic  elements  proper  consist  of  seven  simple  vowels  : 
a,  e,  6,  u,  eu,  u  French,  short  and  long ;  the  French  nasal  in  of 
maintien;  the  semi-vowel  y ;  and  twenty-two  consonants,  in- 
cluding some  gutturals,  fricatives,  and  a  few  sibilants.  Redhouse 
treats  the  vowel  system  somewhat  differently  from  this,  and  Picot's 
tables,  quoted  ahove,  may  he  advantageously  consulted  on  the  point. 

The  Turkish  language  is  entirely  subject  to  an  imperious  law  of 
vowel  harmony,  which  will  again  engage  our  attention  farther  on, 
and  which  is  here  extended  even  to  the  words  horrowed  from 
Arahic  and  Persian.  In  virtue  of  this  law  the  infinitive  ending  is 
maq  if  the  accented  vowel  of  the  root  is  hard,  hut  meq  if  soft. 
Thus,  to  love  is  sevmeq,  hut  to  write  =  yazmaq. 

The  distinction  of  gender  ohserved  in  Turkish  for  Persian  or 
Arabic  words  is  otherwise  entirely  foreign  to  the  Tatar  languages. 
There  are  but  two  numbers,  the  singular  and  plural,  but  Arahic 
words  retain  their  dual  form.  Like  all  the  Uralo-Altaic  idioms, 
Turkish  expresses  the  Aryan  case-endings  by  means  of  postpositions 
or  independent  syllables  at  the  end  of  the  word,  and  joined  to  it  in 
writing.  The  plural  sign,  lar  or  ler,  according  to  the  prevailing 
vowel  of  the  radical,  is  intercalated  between  the  noun  and  the 
post-positions,  thus  :  dil,  tongue;  dile,  to  the  tongue;  dillere,  to  the 
tongues.  These  terminal  suffixes  answer  so  completely  to  our 
bat  one  of  them  suffices  for  a  series  of  subordinate 
words,  as,  for  instance,  a  noun  coupled  with  a  number  of  adjectives. 
Besidi  .  some  of  them  are  independent  words  still  used  as  common 
nouns  in  the  ordinary  language. 

The  adjective,  which  is  a  mere  qualifying  ooun,  comes  always 
before  the  word  it  qualifies,  and  the  degrees  of  comparison  are 
exprec  ed  by  words  meaning  more,  farther,  less,  &c. 

LIBRARY 
j  LIFORNL 

I  BARBARA 


102        SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.    [Chap.  iv. 

The  pronouns  are  both  isolated  and  attached,  the  latter  coming 
naturally  after  the  plural  sign :  hoghaz-e,  his  throat ;  taraq-lar-e, 
their  combs. 

The  Turkish  verb  is  often  quoted  for  the  richness  and  variety  of 
its  forms,  in  which  the  agglutinating  system,  so  to  say,  runs  riot. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  the  vast  framework  of  tenses,  moods,  and 
derivative  voices  piled  up  by  the  grammarians,  the  Finnic  tongues 
must  be  allowed  herein  to  surpass  even  the  Turkish.  Magyar,  by 
incorporating  the  direct  object,  says  in  a  single  word  i"  see  him, 
which  Turkish  cannot  compass.  Its  marked  speciality  consists  in 
the  play  of  the  so-called  derived  voices,  that  is,  of  forms  expressing 
various  shades  of  the  manner  of  being  of  the  same  action.  These 
secondary  forms  are  obtained  by  adding  to  the  simple  root  a  number 
of  suffixes,  whose  vowels  are  of  course  modified  according  to  the 
laws  of  progressive  harmony.  Thus  ma,  me,  being  the  negative 
particle,  the  infinitive  sevmek,  to  love,  will  yield  sevmemek,  not  to 
love ;  dir  denotes  causality,  il  the  passive,  and  in  the  reflex  idea ; 
hence  sevdirmek  =  to  cause  to  love;  seuilmek  =  to  be  loved,  and 
sevinmek  =  to  love  oneself.  But  these  and  other  such  suffixes  may 
be  combined  together,  resulting  in  such  forms  as,  sevinmemek  =  not 
to  love  oneself.  In  this  way  every  root  might  furnish  some  fifty 
derived  forms. 

AVhat  are  called  the  tenses  and  moods  are  similarly  formed  by 
the  insertion  of  certain  elements  between  the  root  and  the  personal 
ending.  But  besides  this  natural  conjugation,  there  is  another  that 
may  be  called  the  indirect,  or  periphrastic — that  is,  in  which  the 
simple  forms  are  replaced  by  circumlocutions.  It  is  based  on  the 
union  of  the  various  participles  with  the  auxiliary  to  be,  and  by 
means  of  it  may  be  expressed  a  multiplicity  of  exceedingly  minute 
shades  of  meaning. 

The  limits  of  this  work  prevent  us  from  casting  even  a  glance  at 
Turkish  syntax.  We  can  merely  observe  that  it  is  all  the  more 
complex  in  consecmence  of  the  great  change  effected  in  the  language 
by  the  intrusion  of  foreign  words.  Hence  the  grammars  are  full 
of  rides,  some  restricted  to  Persian,  others  to  Arabic  words,  and 
some  again  common  to  both,  while  still  inapplicable  to  the  native 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       103 

element.     The  vocabulary  is  deeply  affected  by  Semitic  and  Aryan 
words,  introduced  successively  by  the  Persians  and  the  Arabs. 

In  Asia,  Turkish  is  spoken  in  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor ;  the 
north  and  south  coasts,  as  -well  as  that  of  the  Sea  of  Marmora, 
being  Greek.  In  Europe  it  occupies  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
Ottoman  empire ;  its  more  important  points  being  situated  on  the 
south  and  east,  at  Larissa  in  Thessaly,  here  and  there  in  Thrace, 
and  in  some  tracts  scattered  up  and  down  Bulgaria,  such  as  the 
neighbourhood  of  Philippopoli,  and  especially  the  north-east  of  the 
Balkan  peninsula,  below  Silistria.  In  Candia  it  still  possesses  a 
somewhat  compact  little  territory  in  the  interior  of  the  island ;  but 
here  also  the  Greek  language  is  encroaching  on  its  domain. 

(4)  TJte  Tungusian  Group 

Comprises  three  distinct  branches :  the  Maudcliu,  the  Lamutic, 
and  the  Tungusian  proper. 

The  Tunguses,  numbering  about  70,000,  are  situated  about  the 
centre  of  Siberia ;  the  Lamuts  stretch  more  to  the  north-east,  and 
are  connected  with  the  Mandchus,  who  occupy  the  north-east  corner 
of  the  Chinese  empire. 

The  Mandchus  possess  a  curious  graphic  system,  of  Syriac  origin, 
and  consisting  of  twenty-nine  letters,  each  with  a  triple  form,  as  in 
Arabic,  according  as  they  are  initial,  medial,  or  final,  though  the 
change  at  times  is  but  slight.*  To  these  are  added  some  complex 
signs  derived  from  the  Chinese,  and  serving,  apparently,  for  the 
transcription  of  foreign  words.  The  letters  mostly  consist  of  a 
ending  in  various  corves,  and  are  written  in  vertical  lines 
from  left  to  right,  in  which  arrangement  Chinese  influence  may  be 
recognised     The  Tungus  has  no  special  graphic  system. 

(in  the  Mandchu  vowels  there  is  not  much  to  be  said,  but  the 

inantal  system  is  somewhat  complex,  rendering  its  classification 

rather  difficult.      There  are   two    kinds   of  /•,  g}  h,  t,  and  </,  one  of 

*  Besides  these  there  is  the  full,  unconnected  form,  of  which  tho  others 
are  obvious  curtailments,  always  showing  more;  or  less  conspicuously  tho 
essential  part  of  tho  letter. — Note  by  Translator. 


104.      SECOND   FOEM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      [Chap.  it. 

■which  is  joined  to  the  strong  vowels  a,  o,  6,  only,  the  other  to  the 
so-called  neutral  vowels  i,  u,  and  to  the  weak  e — a  distinction  we 
shall  have  again  to  refer  to  in  speaking  of  vowel  harmony.  A 
cnrious  point,  occurring  also  in  the  Dravidian  languages,  is  that 
words  cannot  hegin  with  the  soft  explosives  g,  d,  b.  In  Mandchu 
there  are  several  (two)  kinds  of  n,  the  sounds  ch  and  y,  and  various 
sibilants.*  In  the  Siberian  dialects,  which  allow  of  the  soft  con- 
sonants, initial,  there  is  a  much  greater  number  of  sounds,  including 
a  series  of  liquid  consonants,  analogous,  for  instance,  to  the  Magyar 
9!/>  ty>  fy-     The  accent  falls  on  the  last  syllable. 

In  Mandchu  the  noun  has  neither  gender  nor  number,  but  the 
Tungus  dialects  have  retained  a  plural  sign.  The  so-called  de- 
clension, as  in  all  agglutinating  tongues,  is  effected  by  means  of 
suffixes  answering  to  our  prepositions.  The  adjective  is  naturally 
invariable,  being  nothing  but  a  noun  placed  before  another  to 
qualify  it  (as  in  the  English  wine-merchant,  house-top).  The 
conjugation  presents  the  same  pecidiarities  as  the  Turkish  and 
other  agglutinating  idioms,  and  comprises  a  large  number  of 
secondary  forms.  The  root  to  drink,  for  instance,  gives  such 
derivative  forms  as  "to  cease  to  drink,"  "to  come  from  drinking," 
"  to  go  to  drink,"  "  to  drink  together,"  and  so  on.  In  all  this  the 
Siberian  dialects  resemble  the  Mandchu,  but  possess  greater  wealth 
of  forms,  especially  in  their  derived  voices. 

The  Mandchu-Tungus  vocabulary,  as  might  be  supposed,  is  far 
from  copious.  Properly  speaking,  it  does  not  possess  the  verb 
to  have,  a  common  feature  of  the  first  two  types  of  speech  ;  and  it 
has  borrowed  largely  from  Chinese,  more  or  less  modifying  the 
forms  of  the  words. 

The  question  of  priority  has  been  decided  by  M.  Lucien  Adam 
in  favour  of  Tungusic  over  Mandchu,  on  the  ground  that  it 
possesses  the  sign  of  number,  the  possessive  pronouns  affixed,  and 
other  important  elements  unknown  to  its  congener.  In  other 
respects  they  are  both  closely  allied,   as    shown   by  the  constant 

*  L.  Adam,  "  Grammaire  de  la  Langue  Mandchoue."  Paris,  1872.  By  the 
same  writer,  "  Grammaire  de  la  Langue  Tongouse."     Paris,  1874. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       105 

identity  of  the  principal  pronouns,  of  the  numerals,  the  most 
important  suffixes,  and  the  great  bulk  of  their  vocabularies.  They 
clearly  come  of  one  source,  and  must  have  been  separated  only 
after  a  long  period  of  grammatical  development  in  common. 

(5)  TJie  Mongolian  Group 

Comprises  three  dialects  :  Eastern  (or  Sliarra)  Mongolian,  spoken 
in  Mongolia  proper,  that  is,  in  the  centre  of  the  northern  portion 
of  the  Chinese  empire,  and  west  of  Mandchuria ;  Kalmuk,  or 
Western  Mongolian,  reaching  westwards  into  Eussia  as  far  as  the 
Caspian,  towards  the  mouth  of  the  Yolga,  between  the  two  Turkic 
tribes  of  the  Kirghiz  and  Xogair ;  the  Buryetic  or  Northern 
Mongolian,  spoken  by  a  tribe  numbering  about  200,000,  near 
Lake  Baikal,  in  Southern  Siberia,  thus  verging  on  the  Eastern 
Mongolian  spoken  still  farther  south  j  lastly,  some  other  Mongolian 
varieties  occur  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cabul. 

Although  quite  as  interesting  as  the  foregoing  group,  these 
idioms  need  not  detain  us  long,  as  their  main  features  are  very 
analogous  to  those  of  the  others  noticed  in  this  chapter;  the  chief 
differences  between  Tungus  and  Mongolian  being  found  in  their 
vocabularies,  and  in  their  greater  or  less  grammatical  development. 

Mongol  has  an  alphabet  closely  related  to  the  Mandchu,  em- 
bracing seven  vowels,  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  eu  French,  ii  (French  u),  and 
ii  teen  consonants,  amongst  which  ts  and  ds.  The  letters,  as  in 
Mandchu,  vary  in  form  according  as  they  are  initial,  medial,  or 
final  ;  and  each  consonant,  as  in  Devanagari,  has  always  an 
inherent  vowel,  except  when  it  is  final. 

The  progressive  vowel  harmony  characterising  the  Uralo-Altaic 
group  forms  a  feature  of  the  Mongolian  also,  but  with  some  pecu- 
liarities, anion--!  which  are,  in  Buryetic,  the  elision  of  final  rowels, 
and  certain  modifications  experienced  by  the  consonants  in  contae.t 
with  each  other.  As  to  conjugation,  it  may  be  remarked  thai  in 
Mongol  tli"  direct  pronominal  object  i.  mil  incorporated  with  tin- 
verb.  Thus,  the  forms  "  I  Bee  it,"  "  I  eal  it."  which  in  Turkish  are 
expressed  by  one  word,  appear  as  two  in  Mongolian. 


103      SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      [Chap.  iv. 

The  little-known  Buryetic  occupies  a  very  important  place  in 
the  Mongolian  group,  its  grammatical  development,  according  to 
M.  Adam,  being  all  the  more  instructive,  that  in  it  there  occur  the 
intermediate  forms  through  which  the  pronouns  have  passed  in 
becoming  suffixes.  But  this  phenomenon  of  the  superiority  of  a 
comparatively  rude  dialect  over  literary  and  cultivated  tongues, 
such  as  Mongol  and  Mandchu,  is  by  no  means  of  rare  occurrence. 

(6)   Vowel  Harmony. 

The  phenomenon  of  vowel  harmony,  in  the  Altaic  tongues,  is  all 
the  more  important,  that  it  forms  one  of  the  main  arguments  gene- 
rally relied  upon  to  establish  the  affinity  of  the  Samoyede,  Finnic, 
Turkic,  Tungus,  and  Mongol  groups.  In  what  then  consists  this 
quality  1  what  is  its  origin,  its  value  ]  and  what  conclusions  are  to 
be  drawn  from  its  simultaneous  prevalence  in  these  various  idioms  1 

This  progressive  vocal  assinrilation  may  be  described  as  a  sort  of 
progressive  umlaut,  «and  is  practically  reduced  to  this  :  the  vowels 
being  divided  into  two  classes,  all  those  in  a  word  that  follow  the 
vowel  of  the  primary  root  must  be  of  the  same  class  as  that  root- 
vowel.  La  certain  Uralo- Altaic  tongues,  however,  there  are  what 
are  called  the  "  neutral  "  vowels,  occurring  indifferently  with  either 
class.  The  vowels,  in  some  of  the  leading  members  of  this  family, 
are  thus  classified  :* 

Neutrals. 

e,  i 
e,  i 


e,  i 


In  this  table  u  stands  for  the  French  ou ;  6  =  French  eu ;  il  — 
French  u.     The  classifi«ation  is  much  the  same  everywhere  of  the 

*  L.   Adam,   "De    l'Harmonie   des    Voyelles    dans  les    Langues   Uralo- 
Alta'ique."    Paris,  1874. 


Gutturals, 

Palatals, 

or  hard. 

or  weak. 

Suomi 

u,  o,  a 

ii,  o,  a 

Magyar       ... 

ii,  o,  a 

ii,  6 

Mordvinian 

u,  o,  a 

a,  i 

Siryenian  ... 

6,  a 

ii,  i,  e 

Turkish      ... 

u,  o,  a,  e     .. 

ii,  6,  e, 

Mongolian . . . 

n,  o,  a 

u,  o,  a 

Buryetic     ... 

u,  o,  a 

u,  o,  a 

Mandchu    . . . 

6,  o,  a 

e 

Chap,  it.]        SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     107 

three  primitives  a,  u,  i,  the  first  two  being,  in  principle,  guttural, 
the  third  neutral.  In  the  same  way  the  intermediate  are  in  principle 
weak  or  palatal.  But  great  differences  prevail  in  practice.  Thus, 
the  harmony  may  extend  to  the  whole  word,  or  he  restricted  to  the 
suffixes ;  it  may  apply  to  all  the  words  or  to  the  simple  ones  only ; 
that  is,  to  those  that  are  not  composed.  For  instance,  in  Turkish, 
the  whole  word  must  he  harmonised,  as  is  the  case  also  in  Manclchu, 
Mongol,  Suomi,  and  Magyar ;  whde  in  Mordvinian  and  Siryenian, 
the  final  vowels  alone  are  affected.  In  Magyar,  again,  compounds 
retain  the  vowels  of  the  simple  word.* 

But  whence  arises  this  phenomenon  1  is  it  primitive  or  recent  1 
M.  Adam,  who  has  devoted  himself  specially  to  this  subject,  finds 
little  difficulty  in  refuting  the  opinion  of  those  Avho,  with  Bcehtlingk, 
see  in  it  nothing  but  the  result  of  local  physiological  circumstances, 
or  who,  with  Pott,  look  on  it  as  merely  a  mechanical  accident. 
But  Schleicher  and,  after  him,  Biedl  have  found  the  true  solution 
of  the  problem.  Schleicher  had  turned  his  attention  only  to  the 
most  general  and  most  remarkable  case,  that  of  the  harmony  of  the 
suffixed  vowels,  presenting  each  of  them  a  double  form,  hard  or  soft, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  suffix.  He  was  struck  by  the  way  in 
which  the  terminal  vowels  were  affected  by  the  root;  and  he  con- 
cluded that  it  was  the  necessary  result  of  agglutination,  and  of  the 

*  With  this  singular  law  of  vowel  harmony  may  be  compared  the  Irish 
rule  of  "  broad  to  broad,"  and  "  slender  to  slender  ;  "  which  is  also,  in  fact, 
a  species  of  progressive  assimilation.  The  Irish  broad  vowels  a,  o,  u,  answer 
to  the  Uralo-Alta'ic  u,  o,  a,  as  above ;  the  corresponding  slenders  being  e,  i. 
According  to  this  law,  Irish  grammarians  tell  us  that  a  broad  vowel  must  be 
followed  by  a  broad  in  the  next  succeeding  syllable,  and  a  slender  vowel  in 
the  same  way  by  a  slender.  To  this  are  also  analogous  the  peculiar  modifi- 
cations of  the  Latin  root-vowels,  produced  by  prefixes,  whether  these  be  duo 
to  composition  or  reduplication,  as  in  cado,  cecidi  ;  ars,  iners ;  lego,  diligoj 
annus,  perennus,  &c.  But  here  it  is  the  root-vowel  that  is  modified  by  pre- 
fixes, whereas  in  the  Uralo-Altai'c  system,  there  being  no  prefixes,  the  root- 
vowel  remains  unchanged,  the  progressive  harmonj  affecting  some  or  all  of 
the  following  syllables,  as  the  case  may  lie.  Hut  the  principle  is  probably 
the  same  in  all  these  linguistic  groups,  In-in^  imply  more  consistently 
carried  out,  or  more  highly  developed  in  some  than  in  others:  in  Turkish 
for  instance,  than  in  Latin. — Note  by  Translator. 


108      SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      [Chap.  iv. 

tendency  in  speech  to  bring  into  the  closest  possible  juxtaposition 
the  idea  and  its  relations  so  intimately  associated  in  the  mind. 
Eiedl  has  shown  that  such  was  really  the  case,  for  the  study  of 
the  old  Magyar  documents  revealed  in  this  respect  a  very  marked 
development  from  the  twelfth  century  to  the  present  time.  In  the 
oldest  texts,  anti-harmonic  forms  abound ;  thus,  haldl-nek,  at  death, 
which  would  now  have  to  be  haldl-nah ;  tiszta-seg  for  tiszta-sag, 
purity,  and  so  on. 

M.  Adam  rightly  concludes  that  previous  to  the  twelfth  century 
the  number  of  harmonised  derivatives  was  still  more  restricted, 
being  replaced  by  real  inharmonic  compounds.  "  Take,"  he  says, 
"  two  radicals,  fa,  tree,  and  vel  (veli),  companion ;  where  fa-vel  will 
be  the  unharmonised  compound  of  these  two  nominal  elements. 
But  when  vel  has  come  to  be  successively  suffixed  to  a  certain 
number  of  roots  it  will  begin  sensibly  to  lose  its  original  meaning  of 
companion,  gradually  assuming  the  sense  of  the  relational  with  in 
connection  with  the  root  to  which  it  is  added."* 

We  have  here,  therefore,  a  case  of  phonetic  decay,  arising  from 
forgetfulness  of  the  primitive  sense  of  the  formative  element.  But 
the  process  was  very  slow,  nor  at  all  uniform  in  the  various 
Uralo-Altaic  idioms,  many  of  which,  such  as  the  highland  Chere- 
missian  and  Wotyak,  even  now  betray  but  the  merest  traces  of 
rudimentary  vowel  harmony.  M.  Adam,  however,  believes  that 
these  two  dialects  have  lost  the  principle  of  progressive  assimilation 
under  the  pressure  of  powerful  foreign  influences.  According  to 
him,  they  woidd  seem  still  to  possess  sufficient  traces  of  it  to 
enable  us  to  conclude  that  at  some  epoch  all  the  Uralo-Altaic 
family  was  subject  to  vowel  harmony.  We  certainly  look  upon 
the  principle  as  a  feature  of  great  importance,  though,  after  all, 
but  a  relatively  recent  historic  fact.  This  is  not  the  place  to  seek 
for  the  causes  and  conditions  of  its  development ;  but  we  do  not 
believe  that  of  itself  alone  it  would  suffice  to  prove  the  common 
descent  of  the  five  groups  that  have  here  been  described. 

Meanwhile,  we  may  say  that  if  their  original  parentage  is  highly 

*  Op.  cit.,  p.  67. 


Chap,  it.]      SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      109 

probable,  it  has  not  yet  been  definitely  established.  There  is  room 
to  hope  that  it  may  be,  some  day  or  other ;  but  many  preparatory 
studies  of  details  "will  have,  doubtless,  to  precede  such  a  result. 
In  any  case,  progressive  vowel  harmony  connects  the  members  of 
the  Uralo- Altaic  family,  in  their  morphological  aspect,  in  such  a  way 
as  to  render  it  extremely  undesirable  to  separate  them  from  each 
other  in  the  general  series  of  agglutinating  tongues. 

§  15. — Basque. 

This  remarkable  and  interesting  language  is  at  present  spoken 
by  scarcely  more  than  450,000  persons,  possessed  of  no  great  social 
originality  or  separate  political  existence.  About  three-fourths  of 
this  number  belong  to  Spanish  nationality,  and  the  rest,  approxi- 
mately 140,000,  to  France.  There  are  also  about  200,000  Basques 
settled  on  the  shores  of  the  river  Plate. 

We  are,  of  course,  here  speaking  only  of  the  individuals  using 
the  Basque  language,  without  at  all  considering  the  special  question 
of  the  Basque  race.  In  truth,  thanks  to  the  excellent  treatises  of 
M.  Broca,  we  now  know  that  there  are  Basques  and  Basques  ■ 
that,  for  instance,  the  Spanish  Basques  are  of  much  purer  blood 
than  the  French.* 

The  attempt  has  frequently  been  made  to  fix  the  limits  of  the 
Basque  language,  but  not  till  lately  have  any  results  been  arrived 
at  Avhich,  without  being  altogether  unassailable,  are  nevertheless 
entitled  to  be  considered  as  really  trustworthy.  The  chart  recently 
drawn  up  by  M.  Broca,  and  published  by  him  in  "  La  Revue 
d'Anthropologie,"  seems  to  us  more  particularly  reliable.t 

Let  us  endeavour  to  give  some  more  or  less  accurate  idea  of  its 
outlines.     Starting  from  a  point  on  the  coast  a  little  to  the  south 

*  "  Sur  lee  Cranes  Basques  de  Saint  Jean  do  Luz,"  in  the  "Bulletins  de 
la  Soc.  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,"  1868,  p.  18;  with  which  compare  "  Be\  ue 
d' Anthropologic,"  iv.  p.  29,  Paris,  1875. 

f  "Sur  L'Origine  et  la  Repartition  de  la  Langue  Masque,"  op.  ri/.,  iv. 
p.  1  et  suiv.,  planohe  Hi.  Paris,  L875.  The  larger  chart  of  Princo 
L.  L.  Bonaparte  does  i   this.     It  places  Puente  la 

Jlciua  in  the  zone  whi  is  still  Bpoken. 


110       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

of  Biarritz,  the  border  line  passes  to  the  south-east  of  Bayonne, 
follows  the  course  of  the  Adour  somewhat  closely,  and  by  a 
brusque  movement  southwards  encloses  the  territory  of  Bastide- 
Clairence.  It  then  by  an  equally  sharp  turn  returns  towards  the 
Adour,  and,  passing  below  Bidache,  Sauveterre,  and  Navarreins, 
advances  in  the  direction  without  reaching  the  town  of  Oloron. 
It  returns  almost  horizontally  westward  to  Tardets,  whence  it 
gains  the  Pic  d'Anie,  and  enters  Spanish  territory.  It  then 
proceeds  towards  ISTavascues,  surrounding  the  northern  environs 
of  Pamplona,  redescends  towards  Puente  la  Eeina,  passes  a  little 
above  Estella  and  Vitoria,  reaches  Orduna  on  the  north-west,  and 
reascends  towards  Portugalete,  here  terminating  at  the  coast.  Its 
greatest  length  (from  Orduna  to  about  five  kilometers  to  the  west 
of  Oloron)  would  therefore  be  approximately  190  kilometers,  its 
breadth  varying  from  50  to  80. 

Information  drawn  from  an  independent  but  not  less  reliable 
source  agrees  on  all  points  with  these  data.  According  to  it  the 
frontier  line  leaving  the  Gulf  of  Gascony  a  little  above  Biarritz 
strikes  the  Adour  below  Saint-Pierre  d'Irube,  two  kilometers  south 
of  Bayonne,  follows  this  river  to  a  point  beyond  Urcuit,  then 
quits  it  so  as  to  enclose  Briscous  and  Bardos  (to  the  exclusion  of 
Bastide-Clairence),  then  Saint-Palais  and  Esquiule,  near  Oloron, 
thus  reaching  the  Pic  d'Anie.  In  Spain  its  limits  reach  beyond  the 
valley  of  Eoncal  in  the  direction  of  Aragon.  After  passing  Burgui 
it  bends  to  the  left  towards  Pamplona,  which  it  skirts,  thence 
redescending  till  it  gets  beyond  Puente  la  Eeina,  returning  in  an 
almost  straight  line  to  Vitoria,  whence  it  ascends  towards  the  sea, 
Avhich  it  reaches  a  little  to  the  west  of  Portugalete. 

The  Basque  district  therefore  comprises  in  Spain  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  Spanish  province  of  Biscaya,  Guipuzcoa,  the  northern 
j)ortion  of  Alava,  and  nearly  half  of  Navarre ;  in  France,  one 
commune  of  the  arrondissement  of  Oloron,  and  nearly  the  whole 
of  those  of  Mauleon  and  Bayonne,  corresponding  to  the  ancient 
local  divisions  of  La  Soule,  Basse-Navarre,  and  Labourd. 

There  exists  no  really  historic  proof  that  in  former  times  Basque 
occupied  a  wider  geographical  area  than  this.     We  shall  revert  in 


Chap,  iv.]      SECOND   FORM  OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      Ill 

another  place  to  the  Iberian  question,  meantime  remarking  that  in 
France  it  is  quite  impossible  to  show  with  any  certainty  that 
Basque  was  at  any  time  spoken  in  any  of  the  hamlets  where  Gascon 
is  now  exclusively  current.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  undeniable 
that  in  Spain  it  has  been  losing  ground  for  some  centuries  past. 
Thus  Pamplona,  formerly  Basque,  is  now  altogether  Spanish ;  and 
in  our  own  days  it  is  easy  to  show  a  perceptible  shifting  in  the 
more  important  localities  subject  to  the  influence  of  modern  life  and 
to  greater  contact  with  strangers.  The  dialects  of  San  Sebastian 
and  of  SarmVJean  de  Luz,  for  instance,  are  very  incorrect,  having 
appropriated  a  great  number  of  Spanish  and  French  words. 

Another  very  important  fact  should  be  noted.  M.  Broca's  chart 
comprises  not  only  the  three  zones — Gascon  (Bayonne,  Orthez, 
Oloron);  Basque  (Tolosa,  Saint-Jean  de  Luz,  Mauleon ;  Spanish 
(Vitoria,  Estella,  Pamplona) — but  also  a  fourth,  or  mixed  Basque 
and  Spanish  zone,  in  some  places  from  15  to  20  kilometers 
wide,  in  others  extremely  narrow,  and  containing  besides  other 
towns  those  of  Bilbao,  Orduna,  Agiz,  and  Eoncal.  In  his  memoir 
on  the  distribution  of  the  Basque  language,  M.  Broca  has  offered 
an  ingenious  explanation  of  the  absence  of  an  analogous  zone 
between  Basque  and  Gascon.  "  In  Spain,"  he  says,  "  Basque  comes 
into  collision  with  Spanish  on  its  border  under  conditions  of  such 
inferiority  as  to  render  inevitable  the  gradual  encroachment  of  the 
latter.  But  in  France  the  dialect  hemming  in  the  Basque  is  not, 
like  the  Spanish,  an  official,  administrative,  political  and  literary, 
language.  It  is  merely  a  local  idiom,  an  old  patois,  without  any 
expansive  power,  but,  on  the  contrary,  actually  dying  out.  There  is 
no  good  reason  why  such  a  dialect  should  supplant  the  Basque,  or 
t]i>;  Basque  encroach  upon  it.  The  two  idioms,  therefore,  remain 
stationary,  both  equally  weak  and  alike  threatened  to  be  sooner  or 
absorbed  by  the  French,  which  language  alone  the  Basques 
have  any  interest  in  learning.  All  those  that  have  received  any 
instruction  are  already  familiar  with  it,  and  all  the  inhabitanl  oi 
towns  of  any  importance  peal  or  understand  it.  Tim-;,  everytoTra 
and  market-place  becomes  a  focus  for  the  spread  of  French,  ami  a 
time  must  come  when  Basque  will  cease  to  be  spoken,  except  in  the 


112       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

most  secluded  hamlets  and  least  accessible  valleys,  and  will  ultimately 
fall  into  abeyance  even  there.  It  will  therefore  perish  under 
influences  that  doubtless  will  not  be  felt  on  all  points  to  the  same 
extent,  but  which  will  everywhere  be  felt  simultaneously.  Thus 
it  will  not  retire,  step  by  step,  as  in  Spain,  before  the  ever-forward 
march  of  Spanish,  because  in  France  it  is  not  pressed  more  on  the 
frontier  than  in  the  rest  of  its  domain.  We  do  not  say,  however, 
that  it  will  maintain  itself  to  the  last  in  its  actual  limits.  It  is 
very  probable  that  the  Beam  patois  encircling  it  will  first  disappear, 
and  that  French,  thus  coming  to  press  on  the  Basque  frontier,  will 
drive  it  gradually  southwards  towards  the  Pyrenees,  whose  upper 
villages  will  probably  be  the  last  refuge  of  the  oldest  language  in 
Europe."  * 

The  proper  and  original  name  of  the  Basque  is  Escuara,  Euscara, 
Uscara,  according  to  the  various  dialectic  forms,  whence  the  French 
Euscarien,  synonymous  with  Basque.  The  Spaniards  call  it  Vas- 
cuence,  and  those  who  speak  it  Vascongados.  On  the  origin  of 
these  terms  it  is  not  easy  to  pronounce  definitely.  The  most  likely, 
though  not  fully  established  etymology  of  escuara,  is  no  doubt  that 
of  M.  Malm,  who  explains  it  as  "  manner  of  speech,"  "  language." 
The  explanations  given  by  the  people  themselves  are,  as  might  be 
expected,  extremely  fantastic.  When  they  compare  their  language 
with  those  of  their  neighbours,  they  find  themselves  so  completely 
at  sea  that  they  forthwith  fall  into  ecstasies  of  admiration  for  their 
mother-tongue.  One  of  them,  the  Jesuit  Larramendi,  whose  work 
bears  the  grandiloquent  title  of  "  El  Imposible  Vencido,"  ("  The 
Impossible  Overcome  ")  makes  it  pretty  well  the  common  source  of 
all  other  languages.  Another,  Astarloa,  asserts  that  each  of  the 
Escuara  letters  possesses  a  hidden  virtue.  A  third,  the  Abbe 
Darrigol,  proves,  with  the  aid  of  Beauzee,  the  everlasting  perfection 
of  Basque.  Chaho  invents  his  ingenious  theory  of  the  Basque 
"seers,"  whose  precocious  civilisation  was  extinguished  by  the 
Kelto-Scythian  barbarians;  and  the  Abbe  dTharce  de  Bidassouet 
makes  Escuara  the  language  in  which  the  Eternal  Father  conversed 
with  the  first  of  the  Jews. 

*  Op.  cit. 


Ciiap.  iv.]      SECOND   FORM   OF  SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.      113 

But  there  is  no  absurdity  to  which  this  precious  relic  of  the 
primeval  languages  of  Europe  has  not  given  occasion.  In  truth, 
Escuar  presented  insurmountable  difficulties  to  those  who  were  ac- 
customed to  nothing  but  commenting  on  Greek  and  Latin  texts  by 
means  of  empiric  processes.  Accordingly,  the  learned  in  medieval 
times  looked  on  Basque  as  an  indecipherable  puzzle,  an  utterly 
insoluble  problem.  A  proverb  preserved  in  the  north  of  Spain 
pretends  that  the  devil  himself  spent  seven  long  years  amongst  the 
Basques  without  succeeding  in  understanding  a  single  word  of  the 
language.  We  are  thus  enabled  to  explain  the  following  remarkable 
definition  in  a  Spanish  dictionary :  "  Vascuence  :  Lo  que  esta  tan 
confuso  ij  oscuro  que  no  se  j>uede  entender  •"  that  is,  Basque:  any- 
thing so  confused  and  obscure  as  to  be  unintelligible. 

Unfortunately  the  problem  has  been  taken  in  hand  by  many 
learned  men  unacquainted  with  philological  principles,  and  by  many 
foreign  amateurs,  without  special  preparation  for  such  studies. 
Hence  their  bootless  efforts  have  merely  had  the  effect  of  increasing 
the  infatuation  by  which  the  Basques  had  already  been  inspired  by 
so  many  previous  abortive  attempts  in  the  same  direction.  The  study 
of  Basque  may,  without  much  exaggeration,  be  said  to  have  led  to 
downright  insanity.  But  things  have  greatly  changed  since  the 
discovery  of  the  true  philological  method.  The  sphinx,  more  skil- 
fully attacked.  Las  been  made  to  yield  up  her  secret,  and  although 
a  number  of  points  <\\\\  remain  to  be  settled,  it  may  be  presumed 
that,  at  uo  distant  day,  we  shall  be  able  to  congratulate  ourselves 
on  having  mastered  the  numerous  ami  intricate  laws  of  the  Basque 
i  ige.  There  were  undoubtedly  many  excellent  things  in  the 
writings  of  Oihenart,  of  Chaho,  and,  above  all,  of  Lecluse  ;  but  the 
quite  recent  works  of  Prince  L.  L.  Bonaparte,  W.  Van  Eys,  and 
Julien  Vinson*  have  more  decidedly  tended  towards  a  solution  of 
tie'  difficulty. 

*  Prince  L.  L.  Bonaparte  has  issued  many  text  -  and  a  valuable  I  real  ise  on 

erb.     To  Van    Eys  we  owe  tin'   Brat    Basque-French  dictionary  ever 

■   elementary   grammar:    "E    ai  de  Grammaire  de  la 

Langue  Basque,"   2nd  edition,  Amsterdam,  L867.     The  numerous  writings, 

with    whiofa    M.    Vinson  has  enriohed  the  "Revue  'I''    Linguistique,"    are, 

ia   our  opinion,  among      the  bi    <   modern    contributions  Id   the   study  of 

i 


114       SECOND   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

Basque,  for  a  stranger,  is  in  a  completely  isolated  condition,  offer- 
ing no  point  of  contact  with  the  surrounding  tongues,  either  in  the 
formation  of  its  words  or  its  morphology ;  and  the  Magyar,  which 
most  resembles  it  in  some  general  features,  is  geographically  widely 
separated  from  it.  Besides,  we  have  some  knowledge  of  the  history 
of  the  Hungarian  language,  while  that  of  the  Bascpie  is  utterly  un- 
known. No  unequivocal  traces  of  the  Basque  tongue  are  to  be 
met  with  in  any  authentic  documents  older  than  the  tenth  century. 
And  even  to  this  epoch  nothing  can  he  referred  except  a  Latin 
chart,  dated  980,  limiting  the  episcopal  diocese  of  Bayonne,  and 
giving  the  names  of  some  Basque  districts  in  a  more  or  less  modified 
form.  It  is  now  well  established  that  the  pretended  Basque  war- 
songs,  attributed  to  a  period  many  centuries  older  than  the  tenth 
century,  are  purely  apocryphal.  Even  from  the  tenth  to  the 
sixteenth  century  we  meet  with  nothing  beyond  some  few  names  of 
places  in  sundry  charters,  letters  patent,  pontifical  bulls,  and  the 
like.  The  first  to  speak  of  the  Escuara  tongue,  and  to  give  some  of 
its  words,  is  Lucius  Marinams  Siculus,  in  his  "  Cosas  Memorables 
de  Espana,"  Alcala,  1530.  The  oldest  printed  text  known  to  us  is- 
the  short  discourse  of  Panurge,  in  the  famous  ninth  chapter  of  the 
tenth  book  of  Eabelais,  published  in  1542.  The  first  printed  book, 
however,  is  dated  1545.  It  consists  of  poems,  partly  religious  and 
partly  erotic,  by  Bernard  Dechepare,  cure  of  Saint-Michelde-vieux, 
in  Lower  Navarre,  and  has  recently  been  correctly  reissued.*'  The 
changes  the  language  has  undergone  since  that  time,  though  doubt- 
less perceptible  enough,  cannot  be  said  to  be  very  important. 

Even  now,  more  serious  divergences  are  ascertained  to  exist 
between  the  various  dialects.  In  fact  its  varieties  are,  so  to  say, 
innumerable,  every  hamlet  presenting  some  local  forms  peculiar  to 
itself.  Of  course  there  is  nothing  abnormal  in  this ;  but  while,  side 
by  side  with  their  spoken  and  local  forms,  most  languages  have  a 
general  or  conventional  standard,  the  result  of  education,  and  often 
closely  resembling  the  written  form,   in  Basque  there  is  no  such 

philology,  based  on  sound  knowledge  and  scientific  method.     To  them  wo 
are  ourselves  largely  indebted. 
*  Edition  Cazals.    Bayonne,  1874. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM    OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       115 

general  standard,  each  -writer  forming  one  to  suit  his  own  fancy. 
Some  writers  have  reckoned  as  many  as  eight  dialects,  yielding  no 
less  than  twenty-five  principal  varieties — in  Spam,  the  Biscay  an, 
Guipuzcoan,  Upper  Navarrese,  north,  Upper  Navarrese,  south;  in 
France,  the  Labourdin  (in  the  south-west  of  the  arrondissement  of 
Bayonne) ;  the  Souletin,  in  the  two  cantons  south-east  of  the  arron- 
dissement of  Alaulcon  (old  JSavarre),  the  Lower  Navarrese,  east, 
and  Lower  Navarrese,  west,  spoken  in  French  Xavarre,  that  is  in 
the  rest  of  these  two  anondissements. 

But  these  eight  dialects  are  easily  reducible  to  three  principal 
groups.  The  first  of  these,  comprising  Biscayan  alone,  is  especially 
remarkable  for  the  originality  of  its  verb.  The  second,  including 
the  Souletin  and  the  Lower  Navarrese,  is  marked  by  frequent 
aspirates  and  the  interchange  of  u  with  i.  The  third,  embracing 
the  four  remaining  dialects,  Guipuzcoan,  Labour  dm,  and  Upper 
Navarrese,  north  and  south,  presents  fuller  and  generally  less 
modified  forms  than  the  second  group. 

"Without  attempting  to  indicate  the  more  or  less  striking  differences 
by  which  these  dialects  are  distinguished  from  each  other,  it  may  be 
stated  in  a  general  way  that  the  four  French  dialects  possess  the 
aspirate,  which  is  utterly  unknown  to  those  of  Spain.  As  to  the 
•A  interest  that  they  may  present,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the 
Souletin,  the  Lahourdin,  the  Guipuzcoan,  and  the  Biscayan  have 
alone  been  seriously  studied,  because  they  alone  possess  a  literature, 
such  as  it  is.  The  central  dialects,  Guipuzcoan  and  Labourdin, 
to  have  undergone  the  least  changes,  while  the  others  have  all 
of  them  been  more  or  Less  deeply  modified.  M.  Vinson  places 
Labourdin  even  before  Guipuzcoan  in  this  respect. 

It  is,  of  course,  only  by  the  simultaneous  and  comparative  study 
of  all  its  eight  dialect-,  thai  il  becomes  possible  to  determine  the 
general  character  of  the  Basque  language,  by  restoring,  as  far  as  may 
be,  its  common  forms.  Their  phonetics,  ■which  alone  can  accom- 
plish this  result,  must  now  briefly  engage  our  attention. 

There  are  five  simple  vowels,  a,  e,  i,  o,  »  ;  six  diphthongs,  ai,  >i, 
oi,  '"',  '/'/,  < '/ ;  the  two  semi-vowels,  y  and  w;  and  twenty-two  con- 
sonants, which  may  he  thus  classified  :  /',  'j,  gh  ;  eh,  te  ;   t,  d,  th  j 

i  2 


116       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

p,  h,  ph  ;  n  of  the  Greek  ayyeXos ;  n  mouille  of  the  French  agneau; 
n  dental ;  m ;  the  fricatives  h,  sh,  z,  s ;  r  hard,  nearly  rr ;  r  soft  (very- 
near  to  I) ;  lastly,  Z.  But  were  the  sounds  peculiar  to  the  various 
dialects  to  be  included  in  this  list,  it  would  have  to  be  more  than 
doubled,  so  as  to  embrace  the  French  u  (for  Souletin),  the  French 
j,  the  Spanish  jota,  and  the  liquids  g,  t,  d,  1. 

Some  of  the  more  important  phonetic  laws,  which  are  somewhat 
numerous,  may  here  be  described.  In  the  case  of  two  vowels  coming 
together,  the  first  is  elided,  if  it  be  at  the  end  of  a  word.  But  if  they 
occur  in  the  body  of  the  word,  a  hiatus  is  the  general  rule,  with  a 
change,  such  as  e  to  i,  o  to  u,  &c,  a  always  remaining  unmodified. 

The  consonantal  changes  are  much  more  remarkable.  Thus  a 
final  sharp,  when  followed  by  an  initial  soft,  disappears,  the  soft 
then  becoming  sharp.  Thus  hunat  golti,  here  above,  is  pronounced 
hunahoiti.  Again,  sharp  explosives,  7c,  t,  &c,  disappear  before 
nasals;  after  sibilants  the  explosives  must  be  sharp,  but  after  a 
nasal  they  must  be  soft.  Double  consonants,  tt,  gg,  &c,  are 
unallowable ;  sharp  explosives,  initial,  readily  become  soft ;  between 
two  vowels,  g,  d,  b,  n,  and  r  are  entirely  suppressed ;  foreign  words 
take  an  initial  vowel,  the  French  raison  thus  becoming  arrazoin. 

The  orthography  now  mostly  in  iise  is  somewhat  recent,  and  in 
any  case  is  merely  a  reform  of  former  systems.  JN'ot  having  pre- 
served any  special  graphic  signs,  if  it  ever  possessed  them,  in 
transcribing  the  Basque  sounds,  recourse  was  necessarily  had  to  the 
Latin  alphabet,  as  current  amongst  the  Gallo-Bomans  or  Hispano- 
Fcomans  of  the  Pyrenees  districts.  Thus,  two  orthographic  systems 
perceptibly  different,  the  Spanish  and  the  French,  were  brought 
into  use,  each  possessing  the  capital  defect  of  representing  the  same 
sound  by  different  letters.  Thus  they  wrote  z,  c,  and  p  for  s  and  e, 
qu  and  k  for  7c.  The  reformed  orthography  was  based  more  on  the 
Spanish  than  the  French  system ;  z,  however,  is  pronounced  as  s. 

Coming  to  the  formation  of  words,  declension  and  conjugation 
must  first  claim  our  attention. 

The  Basque  declension  is  simple  enough,  consisting  in  post- 
positions attached  to  the  noun.  Thus,  they  do  not  say  to  the  man, 
but,  man  the  to  (as  in  the  Urdu  :  admi-ho),  employing  post  instead 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       117 

of  pre-positions ;  that  is,  suffixes  more  or  less  agglutinated  to  the 
noun  or  article.  The  principal  suffixes  are  en,  of  (possessive) ;  i,  to 
(dative)  j  ho,  of,  for,  til:,  from  (ablative) ;  n,  in,  z,  by,  kin  or  gaz, 
with,  ra,  towards,  //<•,  some  (partitive);  reo,  till,  into;  gabe,  without ; 
gat  He,  on  account  of ;  tzat,  for,  &c. 

Besides  the  definite  declension,  which  takes  the  article,  gram- 
marians distinguish  the  declension  of  rational  beings  from  that  of 
irrational  ones.  The  first  would  seem  to  be  characterised  by  the  in- 
sertion of  the  syllable  baith  between  the  article  and  the  suffix,  a 
syllable  which  has  not  been  yet  explained,  but  which  etymologists 
have  naturally  compared  confidently  with  the  Hebrew  beth,  a  house, 
on  the  ground  that  it  is  inserted  only  after  local  suffixes,  in, 
towards,  <fec. 

The  indefinite  declension  is  so  far  unique  that  it  has  positively 
neither  a  singular  nor  a  plural  number.  This  arises  from  the  fact 
that  Basque  nouns  cannot  take  a  plural  sign  unless  they  are  de- 
termined ;  hence  it  cannot  say  men,  but  the  men.  It  follows  that 
the  plural  sign,  which  is  /.-,  is  added  as  a  suffix  to  the  article  a  only, 
which  was  itself  an  old  demonstrative  pronoun,  still  preserved  in 
Biscayan.  Thanks,  therefore,  to  this  article,  the  definite  declension 
has  both  a  singular  and  a  plural. 

Great  irregularities  result  from  the  addition  of  the  suffixes  to  the 
noun,  as,  for  instance,  the  occasional  disappearance  of  the  article 
and  of  the  sign  of  plurality.  But  in  a  sketch  of  this  sort  it  is 
impossible  to  enter  into  such  details. 

From  the  foregoing  remarks  we  readily  see  how  inconsistent  it 
would  be  to  speak  of  cas  is,  aominative,  genitive,  &c,  in  connection 
with  Basque  nouns.  At  times  these  expressions  are  used,  but  they 
should  not  deceive  us,  as  they  are  simply  a  conventional  way  of 
speaking.  In  Basque  then-  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  nominative, 
itive,  or  other   suffix,  such   as  the  s  and    m  of   the    Latin 

domillUrS,  dominVrm.      The  theme  alone  is  used    in   its  simple  state; 

but  when  it  is  the  subjecl  of  an  active  verb  it  takes  the  suffix  /.-,  of 
unknown  origin.  Thus:  gizonak  eman  du,  the  man  has  given  ii  ; 
gizonak  yo  dute,  the  men  have  struck  him  :  where  gizon     man,  a  = 

the  article,  /,-    - -Lui  of  the  BUbjecl  JUSI   mentioned. 


118       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

A  feature,  though  not  a  very  exceptional  one,  of  the  Basque 
language,  is  the  large  number  of  words,  often  reduced  to  one 
syllable,  attached  to  others  to  denote  enlargement,  diminutives, 
plenty,  bad  qualities,  excesses,  want,  attachment,  repugnance,  and 
the  like.  But  many  modern  and  other  languages  also  possess,  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  this  power  of  forming  diminutives,  augnien- 
tatives,  &c. 

The  adjective,  which  never  changes,  is  placed  invariably  after  the 
noun.  The  expression,  "  the  fine  house  of  the  little  man,"  would 
run  in  Basque  :  "  man  little  the  of  house  fine  the,"  where  we  see 
the  adjective  inserted  between  the  article  and  its  noun,  while  the 
genitive  "  of  the  man "  precedes  the  noun  "  house "  on  which  it 
depends  (as  in  the  alternative  English  form :  the  little  man's  fine 
house). 

The  personal  pronouns  are:  ni,  I;  gu,  we;  hi,  thou;  zu,  you. 
The  present  language  uses  the  second  plural  for  a  polite  singular,  as 
in  French ;  hence  another  real  plural,  zuek  =  ye,  has  been  developed 
on  the  previous.  There  are  no  relative  pronouns,  the  interrogatives, 
in  imitation  of  French  and  Spanish,  being  now  often  used  relatively ; 
but  this  is  utterly  opposed  to  the  essential  genius  of  the  language. 

As  regards  number,  there  is  no  original  word  for  a  thousand,  and 
everything  points  at  a  vigesimal  system.  Thus  thirty-nine  becomes 
twenty  +  nineteen ;  sixty  is  three  score,  and  so  on. 

The  verb  is  either  simple  or  periphrastic.  In  the  simple  con- 
jugation derivative  elements  attached  to  the  root  denote  tense,  mood, 
and  person ;  in  the  periphrastic,  the  two  simple  auxiliaries  dut,  to 
have,  and  naiz,  to  be,  are  joined  to  a  noun  of  action  subject  to 
inflection.  The  whole  question  of  the  Basque  verb  is  of  great 
importance.  It  is  the  feature  of  the  language  which  causes  most 
trouble  to  those  accustomed  to  Greek  and  Latin  grammars,  nor  can 
it  be  said  to  be  yet  settled,  even  after  the  labours  of  Van  Eys, 
Prince  L.  L.  Bonaparte,  and  M.  Vinson.*  One  of  the  first  points 
that  have  been  discussed  turns  on  the  relative  priority  of  these  two 
conjugations.     In  the  opinion  of  Mahn,  Van  Eys,  and  Vinson,  the 

*  "  Le  Verbe  Basque,"  "  Revue  de  Linguistique,"  vi.  p.  238.     Paris,  1874. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM    OP   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       119 

simple  conjugation  alone  is  primitive,  and  the  other  developed 
within  the  historic  life  of  the  language.  Without  entering  into  the 
special  arguments  which,  in  our  opinion,  indisputably  confirm  this 
xievr,  we  need  but  remark  that  the  opposite  theory,  maintaining  the 
existence  of  a  radical  with  a  verbal  sense  in  the  forms  of  the 
auxiliaries,  has  a  metaphysical  stamp  about  it,  which  amounts  to  a 
prima  facie  argument  against  it. 

The  periphrastic  conjugation  has  the  advantage  of  allowing  to 
each  verb  a  double  expression,  answering  to  a  transitive  and  an 
intransitive  sense.  The  intransitive  voice  is  a  noun  of  action, 
accompanied  by  naiz,  to  be ;  the  transitive  is  a  noun  also  of  action, 
accompanied  by  did,  to  have.  Like  the  Semitic  verb,  which 
incorporates  the  direct  object,  or  rather  expresses  it  by  a  pronominal 
sign  attached  to  the  verb ;  like  a  similar  process  in  Magyar,  Wogulic, 
and  Mordvinian  (though  the  pronominal  sign  is  not  here  put  in  the 
same  place  as  in  the  Semitic  tongues),  the  Basque  verb  proceeds 
somewhat  similarly,  but  with  the  disadvantage,  when  compared  with 
these  languages,  that  it  is  unable  to  separate  its  direct  object  from 
the  active  verb.  For  instance,  it  cannot  say  /  love  a  woman,  but 
only  /  her  Jove  a  woman.  But  in  its  verb  the  Basque  expresses  the 
indirect  object,  saying  in  one  word  /  give  it  to  him;  here  also, 
however,  it  cannot  omit  the  direct  object,  and  say  simply,  I  give  to 
him. 

Each  of  these  complex  forms  is  siibject  to  four  modifications, 
according  as  they  speak  familiarly  to  a  man  or  to  a  woman,  to  a 
person  they  wish  to  honour,  or,  lastly,  when  no  account  is  taken  of 
such  considerations.  Grammarians  describe  these-  modifications 
c  the  names  of  masculine,  feminine,  respectful,  and  indefinite 
treatment. 

'  lertain  features  of  the  Basque  language,  as  has  often  been  re- 
ed, are  met  also  in  the  American  idioms.     The  Basque  verb 
has,  no    doubt,   certain  analogies   with  the    conjugation    in    those 
;  ■   ;  but  to  conclude  from  thi  writers  do  not  hesitate 

t'.  '1".  thai  Basque  is  intimately  related  to  Chippewa;  and  Lenape' 
etching  the  argument  very  far  indeed.  Before  asserting  that 
lie,  like  these  idioms,  ie  polysynthetic  or  inoorporative,  it  would 


120       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

"be  desirable,  in  the  first  place,  to  determine  the  exact  meaning  of 
these  terms.  We  shall  endeavour  to  do  so  in  the  section  devoted  to 
the  American  languages,  meanwhile  resting  satisfied  with  indicating 
a  feature  of  the  idioms  of  the  New  World,  which  is  met  with  in 
Basque  also.  This  is  composition  "by  syncope,  which,  however,  is  not 
quite  unknown  to  modern  European  tongues.  From  ortz,  cloud, 
and  azantz,  noise,  Basque  forms  ortzanz,  thunder,  cloud-noise.  But 
compounds  of  this  sort  are  not  very  numerous,  being  more  usually 
met  with  in  the  names  of  localities,  those  precious  but  too  often 
inexplicable  relics  of  a  primeval  epoch. 

Such  names  of  places  may  possibly  some  day  enable  us  to 
restore  many  words  that  have  become  obsolete,  and  at  length  for- 
gotten. In  its  present  imperfectly-known  condition  the  Escuara 
vocabulary  may  be  described  as  somewhat  poor.  Excluding  the 
many  Gascon,  French,  Spanish,  and  Latin  words  it  contains,  be- 
sides others  that  can  be  referred  to  some  other  foreign  sources,  it  is 
probable  that  the  genuine  Basque  words  express  no  abstract  ideas. 
Thus  there  is  no  simple  Basque  word  answering  to  the  wide  sense 
of  tree,  animal.  Thus  also  in  Basque  God  is  "the  Lord  on  high;" 
and  if  they  have  a  term  answering  to  our  will,  it  means  also 
thought,  desire,  fancy,  indifferently. 

In  order,  as  far  as  possible,  to  restore  the  common  Basque 
vocabulary,  it  will  be  necessary  to  collect  all  the  words  current  in 
the  several  dialects,  and  of  course  not  even  then  admit  them  as 
original  until  they  have  been  also  shown  to  belong  to  no  foreign 
tongue.  History  tells  us  that  the  region  occupied  by  the  Basque 
language  has  been  at  different  times  traversed  by  Keltic,  Teutonic, 
Arabic,  and  especially  Bomance  speaking  peoples.  The  influence 
of  Latin  must  have  been  all  the  greater  for  having  been  felt  during 
a  period  of  nearly  two  thousand  years,  and  more  actively  than  any 
of  the  others.  In  order,  therefore,  to  properly  understand  Basque 
it  is  necessary  to  know  Latin  thoroughly,  as  well  as  the  history  of 
its  two  modern  forms,  French  and  Spanish,  and  to  be  as  familiar 
with  their  patois  in  the  Pyrenees  regions  as  with  their  literary 
standards. 

Unfortunately  no  help  can  be  derived  from  written  documents,.. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND    FOEM    OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        121 

sucli  is  the  singular  poverty  of  Basque  literature,  which  is  composed 
almost  exclusively  of  translations  of  devotional  works,  absolutely 
without  interest  in  themselves.  There  is  little  inducement  to  spend 
one's  time  poring  over  "  meditations,"  "  hymns,"  "  spiritual  guides," 
and  other  such-like  "  moral "  and  "  moralising  "  productions.  No 
doubt  some  collections  of  popular  songs  have  been  published,  but 
nearly  all  of  indifferent  merit.  Xo  tales  have  yet  appeared,  nor  any 
of  those  interminable  "  pastorals,"  that  the  Basques  of  La  Soule  de- 
light in  on  their  local  feast-days.  These  are  so  far  curious,  from  the 
fact  that  they  have  been  evidently  inspired  by  the  "  chansons  de 
geste,"  the  "  soties,"  and  the  epic  poems  of  medieval  times.  There 
are  scarcely  a  thousand  Basque  books  altogether,  including  even  all 
the  works  on  the  language,  the  country,  the  manners,  and  the 
origin  of  the  Basque  people,  written  in  French,  Spanish,  Latin, 
Italian,  German,  and  even  Himgarian. 

This  last  subject  of  their  origin  has  given  rise  to  numerous 
writings ;  but,  in  our  opinion,  the  problem  remains  yet  to  be 
solved.  "We  persist  especially  in  holding  that  if  Escuara  was  the 
language  of  the  ancient  Iberians,  or  at  least  one  of  the  dialects  of 
their  language,  the  fact  has  not  yet  been  scientifically  proved. 
According  to  some  very  old  traditions,  the  Iberians,  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Aryans,  occupied  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  peninsula, 
as  well  as  all  that  part  of  Gaul  known  afterwards  as  Gallia  Nar- 
bonensis.  Their  first  known  relations  with  any  foreign  race  date 
back  to  the  times  of  the  Phoenician  expeditions  mentioned  in 
history.  Then  came  the  Keltic  invasion.  The  Keltiberians  bravely 
ted  the  Roman  1<  gionaries,  and  after  submitting  to  the  sway  of 
the  Yisi-<  i-oths,  stdl  held  out  against  the  Moslem. 

Kept  alive  in  the  region  occupied  by  the  Iberians,  Escuara,  being 
neither  Semitic  nor  Aryan,  began  naturally  to  be  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  direct  representatives  of  the  old  [berian  language. 
In  support  of  this  opinion  three  different  kinds  of  arguments  are 
usually  urged-  those  based  on  the  customs,  on  the  type,  and  on 
the  language  it  -'-It'. 

The  argumenl  based  on  customs  is  Limited  to  a  legal  disposition 
prevailing   in   the    French    Pyrenees,   even    beyond    the    Basque 


122       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

district,  establishing  in  inheritance  an  absolute  right  of  primogeni- 
ture, without  distinction  of  sex  ;  and  Strabo  tells  us  that  amongst 
the  Cantabrians,  seemingly  an  Iberian  people,  daughters  inherited 
property.  But  M.  J.  Balasque,  a  Bayonne  jurisconsult,  has  shown 
that  the  right  of  primogeniture  is  derived  from  the  essentially  Gallic 
or  Keltic  principle,  requiring  patrimony  to  be  preserved  entire. 

The  Basque  type  is  uoav  well  known.  We  possess  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  true  Basque  skull,  that  of  Spain.  But  however 
widely  it  may  have  been  spread  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Peninsula 
(and  it  is  undoubtedly  met  with  in  Corsica  also  and  the  north  of 
Africa),  it  woidd  never  prove  that  this  one  race  may  not  have  spoken 
several  distinct  languages,  as  is  even  now  very  frequently  the  case. 

The  linguistic  proofs  turn  upon  attempts  to  explain  Iberian  words 
through  the  Basque.  The  monuments  of  the  Iberian  language  that 
have  reached  us  are  of  two  kinds,  medals  and  inscriptions  on  the 
one  hand,  on  the  other,  proper  names,  and  especially  topographical 
ones,  transcribed  by  classical  writers.  The  medals  and  the  inscrip- 
tions offer  the  elements  of  an  alphabet  derived  from  the  Phoenician ; 
but  it  would  be  idle  to  deceive  ourselves  on  their  pretended  inter- 
pretation, than  which  nothing  can  be  more  problematical.  "We 
agree  with  M.  Vinson  in  seeing  in  the  various  readings  hitherto 
proposed  nothing  but  hazardous  and  strained  renderings. 

The  form  of  names  collected  by  Strabo,  Pliny,  and  other  ancient 
writers,  on  the  other  hand,  presents  a  certain  basis  ;  which,  however, 
the  etymologists  have,  as  usual,  recklessly  perverted  to  their  pur- 
poses. The  explanations  proposed  by  Humboldt,  and  after  him  by 
a  number  of  etymologists  without  sound  principles  or  method,  are, 
to  say  the  least,  very  doubtful.  It  may  be  remarked  that  the  only 
two  pbilologists  deserving  our  full  confidence  in  this  department, 
Van  Eys  and  Vinson,  entirely  agree  on  the  point.""  We  adopt 
their  view,  and  we  hold  that  the  name  of  Humboldt  is  not  of  itself 
sufficient  to  settle  the  matter  conclusively.  His  conjectures  may 
have  been  just — it  is  possible,  it  is  even  probable,  that  the  ancient 

*  Van  Eys,  "La  Languc  Iberienne  et  la  Langue  Basque,"  " Revue  de 
Linguistique,"  vii.  p.  1,  Paris,  1871 ;  Vinson,  "  La  Question  Iberienne," 
"  Mernoires  du  Congres  Scientifique  de  France,"  ii.  p.  357,  Paris,  187L 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       123 

inhabitants  of  Iberia  spoke  a  language  akin  to  the  Basque,  if  not 
even  an  older  form  of  this  tongue.  But  it  cannot  be  allowed  that 
this  has  yet  been  proved,  nor  is  it  possible  to  establish  it  in  the 
actual  state  of  our  knowledge  without  compromising  the  strict 
scientific  method. 

To  resume,  this  assumed  identity  is  quite  possible,  but  the  facts 
quoted  in  its  support  have  merely  rendered  it  a  plausible  hypothesis 
still  awaiting  definite  settlement. 

§16. — The  American  Languages. 

In  no  part  of  the  globe,  says  Frederic  Midler,  do  so  many 
languages  exist  as  hi  America,  whose  resemblance  is  so  striking, 
but  Avhose  constituent  elements  are  so  different.  This  is  the  reason 
why  their  study  has  as  yet  been  scarcely  commenced,  and  why  it  is 
so  very  difficidt  to  form  even  some  general  and  definite  notion 
of  them.  There  are,  no  doubt,  a  great  number  of  grammars, 
vocabularies,  devotional  books,  such  as  catechisms  and  versions  of 
Scripture,  calculated  to  facditate  the  study  of  many  of  them. 
But  most  of  these  works  have  been  composed  for  objects  so 
purely  unscientific,  or  in  so  defective  a  manner,  that  but  very  little 
help  is,  as  a  ride,  to  be  obtained  from  them. 

Amongst  the  most  instructive  of  these  writings  maybe  mentioned 
John  Pickering's  "  Remarks  on  the  Indian  Languages  of  North 
America,"  which  has  been  long  before  the  public ;  Duponceau's 
heme  Grammatical  des  Langues  de  quelques  Nations  de 
l'Amenque  du  Nord,"  crowned  by  the  Institute  in  1836;  sundry 
es  by  Malm,  Frederic  Muller,  and  Charencey,  that  have  ap- 
peared mostly  in  special  periodicals.  We  have  also  consulted  the 
"Etudes  but  quelques  Langues  Sauvages  de  I'Amerique,"  1>\  X.  0., 
an  ex-missionary.  This  work  contains  an  interesting  and  seemingly 
trustworthy  sketch  of  the  Algonquin  and  of  the  Iroquois,  bul  the 
author  shows  himself  far  too  ignoranl  of  the  moat  elementary 
scientific  meth 

According  to  Fr.  Muller,  there  would  I"-  in  the  whole  continent, 
from  <  Jape  Horn  to  the  region   of  the  Eskimos,  twenty-six  langu 


124       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

or  rather  groups  of  different  languages  ;  a  large  number,  when  we 
remember  that  the  native  population  bears  no  comparison  with  that 
of  the  Old  World. 

Midler's  classification  we  here  subjoin  : 

1.  Kenai'  group,  north-east  of  North  America. 

2.  Athapasque  group,  east  of  the  Kena'i,  stretching  from  the  Yukon,  and 
the  Mackenzie,  to  the  month  of  the  Churchill  in  Hudson's  Bay.  Much 
farther  south,  and  separated  from  the  bulk  of  this  group,  are  other  dialects 
belonging  to  it.  Such  are  the  Qualihoqua,  north  of  the  Columbia  river ; 
the  Umpqua,  south  of  it ;  Apache,  still  farther  south,  in  Nevada  and  Upper 
California. 

3.  Algonquin  group,  south  of  Hudson's  Bay,  and  stretching  eastwards  to 
the  Atlantic.  It  includes  the  Mikmak,  on  the  east  coast  of  the  Canadian 
Dominion  and  in  Newfoundland  ;  the  Leni-Lenape  or  Delaware  dialects 
(Narraganset,  Mohican,  &c.)  ;  Kree,  Ojibway,  Ottawa,  and  others. 

4.  Iroquois  group  :  Onondago,  Seneca,  Oneida,  Cayuga,  Tuskarora. 

5.  Dakotah  group,  in  the  centre  of  North  America,  including  the  Sioux 
and  others. 

6.  Pawnee  group. 

7.  Appalache  group,  including,  amongst  others,  the  Cherokee,  Kataba, 
Chacta,  Krik,  Natchez. 

8.  Koloche,  in  the  extreme  west  of  British  North  America. 

9.  Oregon  group,  farther  south. 

10.  Californian  group  :  Periku  ;  Monki ;  Cochimi. 

11.  Yuma  group,  in  Lower  Colorado. 

12.  The  independent  idioms  of  the  Pueblos  de  la  Sonora  and  of  Texas 
(Zuni,  Tegua,  and  others). 

13.  The  independent  Mexican  idioms:  Totonak,  Othomi,  Taraska, 
Mixtek,  Zapotek,  Mazahua,  Mame,  and  others. 

14.  Aztek  group,  and  the  languages  of  Sonora,*  including,  on  the  one 
hand,  Nahuatl  or  Aztek,  and  on  the  other  Kahita,  Kora,  Tarahumara, 
Tepeguana ;  Opata,  Tubar ;  Pima,  Papago  ;  Kizh,  Netela,  Kahuillo  ;  Choch- 
oni,  Komanche,  Moki,  Utah,  Pah-Utah,  &c. 

15.  Maya  group,  in  Yucatan,  including  Maya,  in  the  north,  Quiche, 
Huastek,  in  the  north-east  of  Mexico. 

16.  The  independent  idioms  of  Central  America  and  of  the  West  Indies, 
such  as  Kueva,  towards  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  Cibuney  in  the  Antilles. 

17.  Carib  and  Arevaque;  the  former  (called  also  Galibi)  in  Venezuela 
and  French  Guiana,  the  latter  in  British  and  Dutch  Guiana. 

18^  Tupi,  Guarani,  and  Omagua,  of  which  the  two  first  form  a  special 

*Buschmann,  "  Grammatik  der  Sonorischen  Sprachen,"  "Memoirs  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences."     Berlin,  18G3. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       125 

group,  including  the  dialects  spoken  in  the  regions  watered  by  the  Parana, 
the  Paraguay,  and  the  Uruguay  rivers.  Here,  also,  are  certain  idioms,  such 
as  that  of  the  Botocudes,  east  of  the  San  Francisco  river,  which  do  not  seem 
to  belong  to  this  group. 

19.  The  independent  languages  of  the  region  of  the  Andes. 

20.  Araucanian. 

21.  Guaykuru,  spoken  between  the  Paraguay  and  the  Pilcomayo; 
Abipon,  in  the  valley  of  the  Salado  (Argentine  Republic). 

22.  Puelche,  in  the  Pampas,  west  of  Buenos  Ayres. 

23.  Tehuelche,  the  language  of  the  Patagonians. 

21.  The  various  idioms  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and  neighbouring  islands. 

25.  Chibcha,  west  of  the  Andes,  in  New  Granada,  as  far  as  the  vicinity 
of  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota. 

26.  Quichua  group,  farther  south,  from  the  frontiers  of  New  Granada 
and  Equador  to  the  northern  parts  of  Chile.  Related  to  the  Quichuas  are 
the  Aymaras,  on  the  borders  of  Peru  and  Bolivia. 

All  these  idioms  are  generally  assumed  to  resemble  each  other, 
and  to  possess  some  salient  features  in  common.  We  shall  now 
have  to  see  in  what  the  common  character  consists. 

It  may  first  of  all  he  asked  whether  their  forms  and  functions 
are  so  very  discrepant  and  peculiar,  as  to  prevent  us  from  classifying 
them  in  any  one  of  the  three  greaf,  categories — isolating,  agglu- 
tinating, and  inflectional — which  embrace  all  the  languages  of  the 
Old  "World  ?  This  is  the  opinion  of  many  writers,  who  suppose  that 
the  American  tongues  have  a  special  property,  requiring  them  to  be 
classed  apart,  or  in  a  fourth  category,  called  by  them  the  incorpo- 
rating  or  polysynthetic  system. 

Whilst  endeavouring  to  avoid  any  needless,  dry  details,  let  us 

line  the  nature  of  the  phenomena  on  winch  this  doctrine  of  a 

distinct  classification  is   based.      We  shall  conclude    with  a  brief 

notice  of  the  Algonquin  and  Iroquois  groups,  spoken  in  large  tracts 

of   North   America,   and   undoubtedly  the    best   known   of  all   the 

.  Lean  tong 

Tlii'  meaning  of  the  terms  isolating  and  agglutinating  has  already 

1 ii  explained  more  than  once.     The  former  is  characterised  by  the 

use  of  independent  and  invariable  runts, 
while  in  the  latter  the  primary  idea  alone  i  expre  <■!  le,  an  in- 
dependent coot,  those  of  relationship  being  dependent   upon  and 


126       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

attached  to  them.  We  shall  see,  later  on,  that  true  inflection  occurs 
only  where  the  various  relations  of  time  and  space  can  he  expressed 
hy  an  organic  modification  of  the  radical  vowel.  It  becomes 
impossible  to  he  mistaken  as  to  the  position  to  he  assigned  to  any 
given  language,  if  it  can  he  ascertained  to  possess  one  or  other  of 
these  three  characters — isolation,  agglutination,  inflection.  Thus 
the  Semitic  group  is  eminently  inflectional,  although  agglutination 
occurs,  for  instance,  in  the  pronominal  prefixes  and  suffixes  of  the 
verb,  and  even  in  the  development  of  the  derivative  voices.  Hence 
M.  Chavee  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  right  in  treating  as  defective 
the  name  that  has  been  given  to  the  intermediate  class.  In  truth, 
however  far  the  formative  elements  may  become  fused,  the  moment 
that  there  are  as  many  distinct  roots  as  there  are  principal  and 
relational  ideas,  agglutination  is  established.  From  this  point  of 
view  Sanskrit  in  no  way  differs  from  Magyar.  In  our  sixth  and 
concluding  chapter  we  shall  speak  of  the  encroachments  of  one 
class  on  another,  and  of  the  absolute  certainty  of  the  progressive 
order  of  succession  from  the  monosyllabic,  through  the  agglutinative, 
to  the  inflectional  state. 

The  number  of  agglutinating  idioms  is  vast,  but  in  them  agglu- 
tination assumes  every  possible  phase  and  variety.  If,  therefore,  we 
have  to  establish  a  secondary  morphological  division,  it  cannot  be 
based  exclusively  on  the  intensity,  or  greater  or  less  amount  of  ag- 
glutination in  these  tongues.  Account  must  also  be  carefully  taken 
of  the  usual  order  in  which  the  formative  elements  occur,  that  is, 
of  then-  more  or  less  marked  tendency  to  be  placed  in  the  beginning, 
at  the  end,  or  even  in  the  body  of  the  primary  word.  Such,  doubt- 
less, was  Schleicher's  view,  when  he  refused  to  recognise  a  fourth 
category,  formed  by  the  American  idioms. 

What,  then,  is  this  polysyntliesis,  or  incorporation,  which  we  are 
asked  to  accept  as  constituting  a  fourth  type  of  human  speech? 
Here  is  what  Fr.  Miiller  says  on  the  subject,  in  his  "  Allgemeine 
Ethnowraphie  :  "  "  The  American  tongues,  taken  as  a  whole,  rest  on 
the  principle  of  polysynthesis,  or  incorporation.  While,  in  our  lan- 
guages, the  isolated  conceptions  bound  together  in  the  sentence  are 
represented  by  separate  words,  they  are,  on  the  contrary,  in  the 


Chap.it.]     SECOND   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       127 

American  idioms,  joined  together  in  one  indivisible  whole  ;  conse- 
quently, here  word  and  sentence  are  confused  (or  become  convertible 
terms)." 

The  polysynthetic  theorists  give,  as  special  features  of  these  lan- 
guages, the  folloATing  peculiarities  :  Fusion  of  the  pronouns,  and 
even  of  the  direct  object  with  the  verb ;  nominal  possessive  conjuga- 
tion ;  verbal  modification  to  express  a  change  of  object  or  greater 
emphasis  in  the  action  of  the  verb ;  lastly,  indefinite  composition 
by  means  of  syncope  and  contraction. 

The  first  and  second  of  these  pretended  characteristics  Avill  not 
stand  the  test  of  a  moment's  criticism.     In  truth,  the  nominal  pos- 
Bessive  conjugation  is  common  to  the  Semitic  group  and  to  many 
agglutinating  tongues  in  the  Old  World.     The  Algonquin  nirda* 
w  ma,  my  sister,  and  the  Iroquois  onMasita,  the  foot  of  us  two,  are 
formed  on  the  same  principle  as  the  Hebrew  sl-i,  my  God,  and  the 
Magyar  atyar-nh,  our  father ;  although  here  the  formative  elements 
are  not  placed  quite  in  the  same  way.     As  to  the  verbal  modifica- 
tions, intended  to   vary  the  meaning    of   the    action,    Duponceau 
quotes,  after  Molina,  the  Chilian  dun,  to  give  ;  eluguen,  to  give 
:  i  luduamm,  to  wish  to  give  ;  eluzquen,  to  seem  to  give ;  elit- 
.   to   be  able  to  give,  &c.     But  does  not  this  very  example 
ible  exactly  analogous  Turkish  forms?     Besides,  in  many  ag- 
glutinating   idioms,   we   find  traces   of   similar  derivatives  closely 
abling  the  voices  of  the  Semitic  verb.     Instances  have  already 
Aven  from  the  Dravidian  languages  and  from  the  Basque. 
More  weight    might,  perhaps,  be  attached   to  the  third  charac- 
teristic; that  is,  the  fact  that  the  verb  varies  with  its  object.     In 
Cherokee,  for  example,  kutawo  means,  ••  I  wash  myself;"  kuka^jnu, 
"I  wash  my  face;"  tsekusquo,  "I  wash  another's  face.;"  takung- 
l.-.i '■>.  ••  I  wash   my  clothe-  : ''   takldeyti,    "1    wash   Wishes,"  &c.      In 

I  ,jucuru  is  "  to  eat  bread  ;"  jemeri,  "to  eat  fruit,  honey;" 

janeri,  "to  eat  cooked  food,"  &c.    In  Lenape,  and  Chippeway, there 
are  differenl   verba  for  "to  eat  soup,"  ami  "to  eat  pap."     But  are 
of  composition  by  jyncope?    If  so,  they  present  a 
;,.  thai  we  shall  have  presently  to  examine.     If  aot,  we  can  see 
nothing  in  this  phenomenon  beyond  that  repugnance  to  abstraction, 


128       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap,  rv, 

that  absence  of  general  ideas  already  observed  in  many  of  the 
agglutinating  tongues. 

The  objective  pronouns  are  joined  to  the  verb  by  processes 
analogous  to  that  of  nominal  conjugation.  Hence  this  feature 
prevails  also  amongst  those  idioms  that  blend  the  possessive  affixes 
"with  the  noun.  Here  Basque  presents  a  striking  exception,  as  it 
rejects  nominal  affixes  altogether.  On  the  other  hand,  its  "  objec- 
tive" conjugation  is  richer  than  that  of  any  other  European  or 
Asiatic  language.  In  fact,  it  incorporates  with  the  verb  not  oidy 
the  direct  pronominal  object — me,  thee,  him — but  the  indirect  also, 
whilst  Mordvinian  (Uralo-Altaic  group)  is  able  to  express  the  three 
persons  as  direct  objects  only.  Wogulic,  of  the  same  group,  but 
less  wealthy  in  forms,  incorporates  the  second  and  third  persons 
only,  and  Magyar,  showing  still  greater  poverty,  can,  in  principle, 
render  the  third  person  only  in  this  way.  But  these  different 
languages  have  what  the  Basque  has  not,  that  is  the  verb  by  itself, 
and  independent  of  its  object.  In  the  Semitic  group  the  con- 
jugations "by  pronouns  affixed  "are  in  any  case  real  objective 
conjugations.  The  Hebrew  sabagtani  =  thou  hast  forsaken  me  ;  the 
Magyar  latlak  =  I  see  him ;  the  Basque  demogu  =  we  give  it  to  him ; 
and  the  Iroquois  kheiawis  =  I  give  to  them,  so  far  as  concerns  their 
formation,  differ  only  in  the  order  of  the  elements  composing  the 
word. 

As  to  the  incorporation  of  nouns  with  the  verb,  said  to  be  an 
ordinary  feature  of  the  American  idioms,  we  cannot  at  the  moment 
quote  a  more  pregnant  example  than  the  Algonquin  nadholineen  = 
bring  us  the  canoe,  made  up  of  vaten  =  to  bring,  amochol  =  canoe, 
i  euphonic,  and  neen  =  to  us  ;  or  the  Chippeway  word  soghrinjimti- 
zoyan  =  ii  I  do  not  take  the  hand,  in  which  sogendt  =  to  take, 
and  oninjina  =  hand,  are  components.  Formations  of  this  sort  are 
but  simple  extensions  of  the  principle  by  which  the  verb  incor- 
porates its  object.  It  has  been  justly  remarked  that  certain 
locutions  in  the  modern  Bomance  languages  are  genuine  instances 
of  rudimentary  incorporation.  When  the  Italian  says  portandovi  = 
taking  to  you,  portandovelo  =  taking  it  to   you,  and  the  Gascon 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       129 

deche-m  droumi=let  me  sleep,  the  process  recalls  the  incorporating 
method  of  the  Basque  and  the  American  idioms.* 

We  hold,  in  fact,  with  Mr.  Sayce,  that  polysynthesis  must  be 
distinguished  from  incorporation,  which  last  should  be  reserved  for 
the  phenomena  that  we  have  just  examined,  and  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  are  neither  peculiar  to  the  American  tongues  nor  important 
enough  to  justify  the  creation  of  a  fourth  great  morphological 
category.  Mr.  Sayce  is  even  of  opinion  that  there  is  much  greater 
difference  between  incorporation  and  polysynthesis  than  between 
incorporation  and  inflection. 

We  shall  therefore  express  by  polysynthesis  the  last  feature 
appealed  to  as  peculiar  to  the  American  idioms,  that  is  the  hide- 
finite  composition  of  words  by  syncope  and  ellipsis.  This  is 
certainly  the  most  important  character,  and  is  that  which  Fr.  Miiller 
describes  in  the  above-quoted  passage.  Duponceau,  who  does  not 
confuse  incorporation  with  polysynthesis,  gives  this  last  as  the 
distinctive  mark  of  the  languages  of  the  !New  World,  and  he  assures 
us  that  he  has  met  with  it  in  all  the  idioms  known  to  him  from 
Greenland  to  Chili.  They  all  blend  together  a  great  number  of 
ideas  under  the  form  of  one  and  the  same  word.  This  word, 
generally  of  considerable  length,  is  an  agglomeration  of  diverse 
others,  often  reduced  to  a  single  intercalated  letter.  Thus  the 
Greenland  iiiilisiiri'irfni-asuarpdk,  he  hastened  to  go  fishing,  is  formed 
of  aulisar,  to  Bah,  peartor,  to  be  engaged  in  anything, pinnesuarpok, 

*  But  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  two.  The  former  incor- 
porate the  pronominal  element  only,  while  the  latter  incorporate  the  nominal 
object  also.  Hence  the  one  is  limited  to  the  few  possible  combinations  of 
verb  and  pronoun,  while  the  other  is  practically  unlimited,  the  number  of 
i do  nouns  capable  of  being  blended  with  the  verb  being  numberless. 
If  the  Italian  could  melt  down  into  one  word  the  phrase portandovi  il  bastone, 
fetching  the  Btiob  to  you,  and  say,  for  instance,  portaridovilstone,  the  analogy 
fronld  1c;  bo  far  complete  between  it  and  the  American  process.  But  even 
then  only  so  far,  because  in  point  of  fact  the  American  tongues  fuse  to- 
gether whole  sentences,  including  verb,  nominal  object,  pronominal  subject, 
and  indirect  object,  conjunctions,  conditional,  honorific,  euphonic,  and  other 
formative  elements.  It  is  this  iiiiii-i-rsiiUt y  of  the  process  that  seems  to  con- 
stitute  the  real  di  tinotion  between  the  polysynthctic  and  the  agglutina- 
ting systems. — Note  by  Translator. 

K 


130       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

he  hastens.  The  Algonquin  amawjanachqiumiurld,  broad-leaved 
oaks,  is  formed  of  amangi,  great,  large,  nachk,  hand,  quim,  ending 
of  names  of  shell-fruit,  and  ackpansi,  trunk  of  a  tree.  The  Mexican 
notlazomahuizteopixcaMtzin,  my  beloved,  honoured,  revered,  priestly- 
father,  is  made  up  of  no,  my,  tlazotli,  beloved,  mahuitztic, 
honoured,  teopixqui  (from  Teotl,  God,  and  pia,  to  keep  guard), 
priestly,  tatl't,  father,  and  tzin,  a  reverential  ending.*  The  Chippeway 
totochabo,  wine,  is  formed  of  toto,  milk,  and  clwmindbo,  bunch  of 
grapes. 

Polysynthesis,  therefore,  consists  of  composition  by  contraction ; 
some  of  the  components  losing  their  first,  others  their  last  syllables. 
Consequently  there  is  this  difference  between  incorporation  and 
polysynthesis,  that  the  process  of  the  latter  is  essentially  syntac- 
tical. Incorporation  belongs  to  the  period  of  development,  while 
polysynthesis  took  its  rise  during  the  historic  life  of  the  lan- 
guage. 

Hence  polysynthesis  is  not  a  primitive  feature,  but  an  expansion, 
or,  if  you  will,  a  second  phase  of  agglutination,  offering  insufficient 
grounds  for  constituting  the  American  idioms  in  a  separate  class. 
They  will  simply  be  placed  last  in  the  ascending  order  of  the 
agglutinating  series.  For  instance,  we  shall  have,  in  the  first  place,  the 
Dravidian  group,  with  its  scanty  grammatical  forms  ;  then  the  some- 
what more  developed  Mandchu,  the  Turkish  already  incorporating ; 
after  which  the  Finnic  tongues  in  this  order :  Suomi,  Magyar,  Wogulic, 
Mordvinian,  all  incorporating ;  then  the  Basque,  of  which  more 
farther  on,  and  which  is  incorporating  with  polysynthetic  tendencies  ; 
lastly,  the  American  languages,  which  are  incorporating  and  poly- 
synthetic. But  tliis  progressive  arrangement  no  more  proves  the 
original  parentage  of  these  different  tongues,  than  do  certain  common 
features  that  of  the  amentacea  and  the  conifera. 

Besides,  the  historic  stage  once  reached,  all  languages  might  be- 
come polysynthetic,  and  in  a  great  many  of  them  there  are  forms 

*Hervas,  "Idea  dell'  Universo,"  xviii.  ;  also  the  Translator's  "English 
Language,"  p.  49  of  enlarged  edition,  1875. 


Chap.it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.        131 

of  expression  quite  analogous  to  the  contractions  of  the  American 
tongues.  Thus  in  German,  beim  =  bei  dent,  in  or  by  the  ;  zur  =  zu 
dt  r,  at  or  to  the  ;  in  current  French  mamzelle  for  ma  demoiselle. 
[But  see  Translator's  note  at  p.  129.] 

As  Duponceau  has  well  observed,  these  contractions  are  readily- 
produced  in  compound  words  in  current  use,  which  have  gradually- 
become  simple  words,  whose  original  complex  nature  has  been 
forgotten.  In  Europe  the  Basque  seems  to  have  made  the  greatest 
use  of  this  process,  and  it  is  on  this  account  that,  in  a  progressive 
morphological  arrangement  of  the  agglutinating  languages,  it  may 
be  placed  between  the  Uralo- Altaic  and  the  American  idioms. 

It  is  impossible  to  notice,  even  in  the  most  summary  way,  all 
the  different  languages  above  enumerated.  While,  therefore,  occa- 
sionally alluding  to  the  others,  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  a 
general  sketch  of  the  two  more  important  groups  in  Xorth  America 
— the  Algonquin  and  the  Iroquois.  These  are  not  related  to  each 
other,  offering  noteworthy  differences  both  as  regards  their  phonetic 
and  formative  systems. 

Algonquin,  spoken  in  Canada  and  in  the  north  of  the  United 
-.  is  subdivided  into  some  thirty  dialects,  the  principal  of 
which  arc  the  MiJcmak,  in  Canada,  ]STova  Scotia,  and  neighbouring 
ms;  Abenaki,  in  Maine  and  Massachusetts;  Narragam&ets  in 
Rhode  Island  ;  and  Mohican,  in  Connecticut.  The  Languages  of 
l  ida  proper:  Algonquin,  properly  so  called;  ChippewaytxOjibway-, 
Ottawa,  .'/'  nomeni,  and  (  V-  e. 

The  Iroquois  tribes  occupy  the  western  portion  of  the  state  of 
5Tork,  and  generally  the  southern  shores  of  the  great  lakes. 
They  may  1"-  subdivided  into  the  Onondago,  Seneca,  Oneida, 
/■i.  and  Tu&corora. 

The  Algonquin  phonetic  system  is  poor,  ami  tin'  Iroquois  poorer 
still.  They  have  our  vowels,  a,  e,  i,  <>,  some  dialects  adding  u  ;  also 
the  two  semi-vowels,  y  and  w,  the  second  changing  to  a  sorl  of 
labial  sibilant.  This  Is  the  Bound  that  the  missionaries  transcribe 
by  the  cipher  8.  undejr  the  pretext  that  thi  tnbles  the 

'■:  8,  while,  the   French  huit  expresses  the  sound  in  question, 

k  2 


132        SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

But  the  use  of  this  8  gives  the  strangest  appearance  to  the  American 
texts  in  which  it  occurs.* 

Algonquin  possesses  the  two  gutturals  Jc,  g,  whilst  Iroquois  has 
one  only,  sometimes  transcribed  by  g,  sometimes  by  1c.  Both  have 
the  palatal  ch,  and  some  Algonquin  dialects  j  also.  Algonquin 
employs  t  and  d,  Iroquois  t  only,  and  it  has  no  labials,  while  Algon- 
quin has  p  and  b.  Both  have  the  nasals  belonging  to  their  respective 
explosives,  and  I  and  r,  always  interchangeable  and  often  indistinct. 
In  Algonquin  there  are  numerous  sibilants,  h,  ch  hard  (German), 
s,  z,  and  French  j.  But  in  Iroquois,  h  and  s  alone  occur,  /  being 
restricted  to  some  dialectic  varieties.  Both  have  three  nasal  vowels : 
an,  en,  on.  The  only  sound  presenting  any  difficulty  to  Europeans 
seems  to  be  the  w  placed  before  a  consonant.  On  this,  Duponceau 
remarks :  "  It  is  like  ou  in  the  French  out,  but  followed  imme- 
diately by  a  consonant,  and  uttered  without  any  intermediate  rest, 
for  which  reason  it  is  called  sibilant  ou  or  w,  because,  in  fact,  we 
must  pronounce  it  with  a  whistle.  The  same  utterance  exists  in 
Abenaki,  but,  instead  of  being  labial,  as  in  Lenape,  it  is  guttural, 
being  pronounced  from  the  depths  of  the  throat  ....  It  occurs 
neither  in  Algonquin  proper  nor  in  Chippeway,  and  iu  OttaAva  ou 
takes  its  place.  Thus,  whilst  a  Lenape  says  w'danis,  his  daughter 
(with  a  Avhistle),  the  Ottawa  will  say  oudanis." 

He  further  observes  that  the  Algonquins  articulate  very  distinctly, 
pronouncing  the  vowels  very  openly,  the  short  with  the  sharp,  the 
Ion"  with  the  grave  accent,  the  last  syllable  of  the  phrase  being 
uttered  with  great  energy.  The  South  American  pronunciation  is 
rougher  than  that  of  the  North. 

Many  American  tongues,  notably  Algonquin  and  Iroquois,  do 
not  distinguish  the  verb  from  the  noun,  the  verb  being  nothing  but 

*  The  names  of  a  team  of  Iroquois  Indians,  who  played  the  Canadian 
o-ame  of  "  La  Crosse,"  before  the  Queen  at  Windsor,  during  last  summer, 
appeared  in  the  periodicals  at  the  time  in  this  wise :  Aton8a  Tekanennao- 
8iheu  (Hickory  Wood  Split)  ;  Sha8atis  Anasotako  (Pick  the  Feather) ;  Sha- 
8atis  Aientonni  (Hole  in  the  Sky) ;  8ishe  Taiennontii  (Flying  Name)  ;  Aton8a 
TeronkoSa  (The  Loon)  ;  8ishe  Ononsanoron  (Deer  House),  &c. — Note  by 
Translator. 


Chap.  i\\]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       133 

a  noun  accompanied  by  suffixes  denoting  possession.  This  seems  to 
us  somewhat  the  case  with  the  agglutinating  languages  generally, 
and  we  have  shown  how  the  Dravidian  verb  may  take  nominal 
suffixes,  just  as  the  noun  itself  is  declined  by  means  of  pronominal 
suffixes. 

The  article,  which  some  writers  do  not  recognise,  Duponceau 
detects  at  least  in  Algonquin.  It  is,  as  is  usually  the  case,  a 
demonstrative  pronoun,  monko  (in  Massachusetts),  reduced  to  m 
prefixed.  But  its  presence  is  now  so  little  felt,  that  it  is  retained 
concurrently  with  the  possessive  affixes.  Thus  the  Chippeway  says 
mittig,  tree,  and  hi  mittig,  thy  tree;  and  the  Lenape  liittul;  tree  ; 
m'hittulc,  the  tree;  and  Ic'hittuJ:,  his  tree.  The  article  occurs  in 
other  idioms  also,  as  in  Iroquois  ne,  and  in  Othomi  na,  but  it  has 
often  been  overlooked,  owing  to  the  tendency  of  those  languages 
towards  determinating  forms,  causing  the  nouns  to  be  always 
accompanied  by  a  possessive  affix. 

In  Algonquin  there  is  no  distinction  of  gender,  while  in  Iroquois 
there  are  two  genders,  called  by  the  grammarians  noble  and  ignoble  ; 
tli-  first  being  applied  to  divinities  and  to  the  male  of  the  human 
race,  the  seeond  to  everything  else.  But  in  the  declension  there  are 
particles  or  different  affixes  for  animate  and  inanimate  beings. 

The  nominal  conjugation,  or  rather,  as  above  explained,  the 
posses-ive  derivative,  is  formed  by  the  addition  of  the  pronominal 
ate  to  the  beginning  of  the  noun,  tin- adjective  being  always  in- 
variable, and  placed,  in  Algonquin,  before  the  qualified  "word.  Thus, 
kuligatchis,  thy  pretty  little  paw,  is  formed  of/,-/,  thy,  voulit,  pretty, 
wichgat,  paw,  and  the  diminutive  cMs',  and  Kitanittowit,  the  Great 
Spirit,  of  kita,  anitu,  spirit,  and  the  adjectival  ending  wit. 

The  Algonquin  verb  may  he  either  absolute,  that  is,  without  an 
object;  transitive,  that  is,  with  a  direcl  object;  or  passive.  A  great 
number  of  moods  have  \>a-n  wrongly  ascribed  to  it,  there  1»  ing,  in 
reality,  none  al  all,  or  at  most  a  conditional,  formed  by  the  insertion 
of  a  particle.  The  Iroquois  verb  i  al  o  absolute,  reflective,  recip- 
rocal, passive,  and  transitive,  with  direct  and  indirect  object. 
There  would  al  bo  be  in  some  idioms  traces  of  a  so-called 

sexual  conjugation.     Thn  .  in  Abenaki,  a  man  would  say  nenanan* 


134        SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

basanbai,  -where  a  -woman  would  say  nenananbaseskouai,  I  am  not 
very  intelligent.  Thanks  to  such  numerous  variations,  one  begins 
to  see  how  the  English  missionary,  Edwin  James,  came  to  credit  the 
Chippe-way  verb  with  six  or  eight  thousand  forms. 

Algonquin  and  Iroquois  are  no  more  able  than  are  the  Dravidian 
tongues  to  express  the  absolute  sense  of  to  be  and  to  have.  Thus 
the  sentence,  I  am  a  man,  in  Xarragansets  will  be  ninin  =  l  man  ; 
and  in  Lenape,  lenno  n'  hackey  =  a  man  my  body.  The  question, 
Whose  is  this  canoe  ?  is  in  Ottowa  watchimdnei  =  to  whom  canoe1? 
In  Menomeni,  wahotosoydwik  =  who  owns  canoe1? 

Altogether  the  vocabulary  of  these  idioms  is  very  poor,  lacking, 
as  might  be  supposed,  nearly  all  the  abstract  terms,  which  are 
replaced  either  by  words  from  English,  French,  Spanish,  and  even 
German,  or  else  by  developed  periphrases,  often  spoken  of  by 
grammarians  as  words  of  ten  or  twelve  syllables. 

In  the  Algonquin  dialects  the  five  first  numerals  are  simple 
words,  and  these  alone  seem  to  be  primitive.  "Ten"  seems  to  be 
"  five  more  "  (than  five) ;  a  hunched,  "  ten  times  ten ;"  and  a  thou- 
sand "  the  great  ten  of  tens."  Iroquois,  on  the  contrary,  seems  to 
have  reckoned  as  far  as  ten. 

Many  curious  remarks  might  be  made  on  the  terms  of  relation- 
ship, which  in  Iroquis,  for  instance,  are  very  numerous.  They 
have  been  arranged  in  categories — superior  consanguinity,  as  father, 
mother ;  inferior,  as  son,  younger  brother ;  superior  affinity,  as 
father-in-law ;  inferior,  as  daughter-in-law.  Collateral  connections, 
as  brother-in-law,  &c. 

The  Dravidian  group  is  also  remarkably  rich  in  words  of  this 
sort,  distinguishing,  for  instance,  the  elder  from  the  junior  brothers, 
just  as  in  Basque  a  woman's  sister  is  distinguished  from  a  man's. 
The  cause  of  these  intricacies  is,  we  have  no  doubt,  the  lack  of 
general  expressions,  which  is  a  usual  feature  of  inferior  languages, 
though  not  unfrequently  mistaken  for  wealth  by  writers  on  ethno- 
graphy and  geography. 

Notwithstanding  the  length  of  these  remarks,  we  shoidd  have 
liked,  did  our  space  afford  it,  to  give  some  further  illustrations,  and 
analyse  some  complete  sentences.     The  American  languages  con- 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FORM   OF  SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       135 

tinue  to  give  occasion  to  such  unscientific  •writings  that  their  connec- 
tion with  the  other  agglutinating  tongues  cannot  be  too  much 
insisted  upon.  We  trust,  hoAvever,  that  the  distinction  has  been 
made  perfectly  clear  between  the  terms  polysynthesis  and  incor- 
poration, the  misunderstanding  of  which  may  and  does  give  rise  to 
many  serious  errors. 

§  17. — The  Sub-Arctic  Languages. 

Under  this  geographic  designation  are  comprised  all  the  idioms 
spoken  in  the  Arctic  regions. 

Tukagirie,  the  speech  of  about  1,000  persons  in  the  north-east 
of  Siberia,  immediately  east  of  Yakutic,  which  belongs  to  the 
Turkish  group. 

Ghukchik  (Asiatic),  and  Koryak,  still  further  east,  in  the  extreme 
north-east  of  Siberia.  These  two  idioms  are  nearly  akin  to  each 
other. 

Kamchadale,  in  the  south  of  the  peninsula;*  still  farther  south, 
in  the  Kuriles  and  northern  islands  of  the  Japanese  Archipelego, 
the  language  of  the  AinosA 

Ghilial;  on  the  mainland  opposite. 

Ostyak-Ti  nisei  and  Kotte,  in  the  heart  of  Siberia. 

Innuit  dialects,  spoken  by  the  Eskimos  along  the  northern  coast 
of  America.  Related  to  them  is  the  American  Chukchik,  on  the 
north-west  coast,  and  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Asiatic  Chuk- 
chik above  mentioned. 

Ah  idian  dialects,  essentially  different   from  the  Innuit. 

But  although  grouped  under  one  common  designation,  we  cannot, 
on  that  account,  form  any  conclusion  as  to  the  greater  or  less  affinity 
of  these  languages,  either  amongst  themselves  or  with  any  other 
idioms.     On  this  subject  there  is  still  room  for  many  hypotheses ; 

•See"The  I Sthnograp hie  Chart  of  Kamchatka,"  by  C.deDittmar,"  Bulletins 
of  ih"  Bistorical,  Philological,  and  Political  Beotion  of  the  St.  Petersburg 
Academy,"  viii.  p.  107.     St.  Peteri  burg,  1856. 

t  Pfizmaier,  "I  eberden  Baa  der  Aino.Spraohe,"  "  Bulletins  of  the  Vienna 

Acadomy,"  vii.  p.  382.    Vienna,  1851. 


136       SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

but  it  is  probable  that  some  of  them  will  permanently  resist  any 
attempts  that  may  be  made  to  classify  them  with  any  other  better- 
known  groups. 

§  18. — Languages  of  the  Caucasus. 

Frequent  futile  attempts  have  been  made  to  identify  these  idioms 
both  with  the  Aryan  and  the  Semitic  system.  We  agree  with 
Fr.  Muller  in  regarding  them  as  an  entirely  distinct  group,  different 
even  from  the  TJralo- Altaic.  They  are  divided  into  two  branches — 
the  Northern  and  the  Southern. 

Tlie  Northern  Division  extends  along  the  northern  slopes  of  the 
Caucasus,  between  the  Caspian  and  the  northern  shores  of  the 
Black  Sea,  as  far  as  the  Straits  of  Yenicale,  and  comprises  three 
distinct  sub-branches :  the  Lesgian  in  Daghestan,  bordering  on 
the  Caspian,  and  numbering  about  400,000  souls;  the  Kistian, 
central,  and  much  less  considerable  than  the  previous ;  the  Cher- 
Jcessian,  or  Circassian,  occupying  nearly  half  of  the  entire  north- 
west of  the  Caucasus,  and  nearly  as  numerous  as  the  two  foregoing 
groups. 

In  the  Lesgian  are  included  the  Avare,  Khasia-Kumuk  or  Laic, 
Alcusha,  Kurine,  Tide,  and  other  dialects. 

The  Kistian  group  comprises  the  Ingush  or  Lamur,  Karabuldk, 
Chechenze,  Tush  or  Mosok,  which  last,  though  belonging  to  the 
Northern  Division,  is  spoken  south  of  the  Caucasus  towards  the 
source  of  the  Alasan.  The  various  Kistian  idioms  are  spoken 
altogether  by  about  140,000  individuals.  Formerly  the  Circassians 
numbered  about  500,000,  but  large  numbers  of  them  have  in 
recent  times  migrated  to  European  Turkey. 

The  Southern  Divison  comprises  Georgian,  Suanian,  Mingrelian, 
and  Lazian.  The  Suanian  lies  north-east  of  the  Georgian,  and  the 
Mingrelian  lies  south  of  the  Suanian  and  west  of  the  Georgian. 
Lazian  is  spoken  still  farther  to  the  south,  in  Lazistan,  a  province 
of  Asiatic  Turkey,  on  the  south-east  coast  of  the  Black  Sea. 

These  last  four  languages  would  seem  to  derive  from  a  common 
source,  but  their  affinity  with  the  Northern  Division  is  far  from 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       137 

having  been  established.  Xor  has  the  relationship  of  the  idioms 
of  this  division  itself  been  even  yet  made  clear,  although  several  of 
the  Caucasian  tongues  have  been  carefully  studied,  notably  by 
Schiefner,  in  the  ''Memoirs  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Academy." 

They  are  all  of  them  obviously  agglutinating,  the  idea  of  case  being 
expressed  in  the  usual  way  by  suffixes,  between  which  and  the  root 
is  inserted  the  element  denoting  number.  Occasionally,  hoAvever, 
the  derivative  element  precedes  the  root,  as  from  busiani  =  garden, 
mebustani  =  gardener,  pmri  =  bread,  mepuri  =  baker. 

§  19. — On  some  little-known  Idioms  classified  with  the 
Agglutinating  Languagt  s. 

We  have  just  mentioned  those  sub-Arctic  idioms  which  have  no 
known  connection  with  any  other  group,  which  seem  to  differ  even 
from  each  other  in  the  most  decided  manner,  but  which,  by  their 
structure,  belong  all  of  them  to  the  agglutinating  class. 

We  have  now  to  say  a  few  words  on  those  sorts  of  languages  that 
have  been  also  classed  amongst  the  agglutinating,  but  concerning 
which  we  possess  such  unsatisfactory  and  contradictory  information 
that  they  must  be  spoken  of  with  the  greatest  reserve.  Some  of 
these  are  still  spoken,  such  as  the  Brahui ;  whilst  others  are  extinct, 
such  as  that  of  the  second  column  of  the  trilingual  cuneiform 
inscriptions,  and  the  so-called  Sumerian  or  Accadian  tongue. 

(1)   Sinhalese  or  Elu. 

Sinhalese,  spoken  by  the  indigenous  population  in  the  southern 
districts  of  Ceylon,  is  an  agglutinating  language — by  some  writers, 
on  insufficient  grounds,  connected  with  the  Dravidian  group,  and 
with  still  Less  probability,  by  R.  C.  Childers,  with  the  Sanskrit; 
though  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  has  borrowed  largely  from  that 
source. 

The  Kin  consonantal  system  is  tolerably  rich  •  possessing,  besides 
the  ordinary  explosives,  the  lingual  explosives  t,d,  and  the  fricatives 

chfj. 

Number  is  expressed  l>y  the  addition  of  sundry  particles,  vol,  hut 


138        SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.it. 

Id,  and  others,  some  being  reserved  for  animate,  others  for  inanimate 
beings.  The  cases  also  are  denoted  by  suffixes  :  geval  =  the  houses, 
gehi  =  in  the  house,  geoalM-va.  the  houses. 

Amongst  the  numerous  Sanskrit  elements  in  Sinhalese,  that  of 
the  numerals  is  one  of  the  most  striking.  Sanskritists  will  readily 
recognise  Sanskrit  or  Pali  forms  in  the  Sinhalese  eka  =  one,  deka  = 
two,  tuna= three,  hatara  =  four, pdha=* fire. 

The  Sinhalese  writing  system  is  of  Dravidian  origin. 

(2)  Munda. 

The  language  of  the  Kols,  or  Kolhs  (south-west  of  Calcutta), 
would  seem,  like  Sinhalese,  to  be  independent  of  the  Dravidian 
group. 

(3)  Brdhui, 

Spoken  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kelat,  in  the  north-east  corner 
of  Beluchistan.  Although  largely  imbued  with  Sanskrit  and 
Arabic  terms,  it  would  seem  to  be  related  to  the  Dravidian  family. 

(4)  The  Pretended  Scythian  Language. 

The  term  Scythian  has  been  used  in  two  different  ways,  having 
been  applied  both  to  a  particular  people  and  to  a  collection  of  tribes 
more  or  less  related  together.  In  the  first  case  some  one  definite 
Scythian  language  and  people  is  implied;  in  the  second  will  be 
understood  not  one,  but  many  Scythian  races  and  languages.  The 
first  opinion  has  found  but  few  defenders,  while  the  second  has 
contrived  to  seduce  even  such  competent  authorities,  for  instance,  as 
"Whitney,  who  has  given  to  the  Uralo- Altaic  group  the  name  of 
Scythian,  a  term  applied  by  the  Greeks  if  not  to  all,  at  least  to 
many  of  the  nomad  tribes  dwelling  on  the  north-east.* 

But  this  appellation  seems  to  us  much  too  vague.  It  is, 
doubtless,  very  likely  that  the  ancients  included  in  it  more  than 
one  tribe  belonging  to  the  Uralo-Altaic  group,  although  no  direct 

*  "  Language  and  the  Study  of  Language,"  third  edition,  p.  309.  London, 
1870. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION,       139 

proof  can  be  advanced  in  support  of  the  statement.*  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  seems  quite  certain  that  they  also  gave  the  name  of 
Scythians  to  races  speaking  Aryan  tongues  ;  as,  for  instance,  the 
Scythians  of  Pontus,  whose  language,  as  Miillenhoff  has  endeavoured 
to  show,  seems  to  have  been  Iranian. 

Several  writers  have,  with  some  probability,  considered  that  a 
section  of  the  Scythians  spoke  an  idiom  akin  to  the  Slavonic 
group. t  In  a  word,  we  agree  with  Frederick  Midler  |  that  Scythian 
is  merely  a  geographical  expression,  answering  to  no  definite  idea 
of  race  or  language.  Scythia  is  simply  the  north  of  Europe  and  of 
Asia,  and  the  Scythian  races  are  the  nomad  tribes  inhabiting  those 
regions.  Hence  it  seems  to  us  at  least  somewhat  rash  to  speak  of 
a  Scythian  language,  or  even  of  a  Scythian  group,  and  give  this 
name,  whose  origin  is  otherwise  very  obscure,  to  the  collective  body 
of  the  Uralo-Altaiic  tongues. 

(5)  The  Language  of  the  Second  Column  of  the  Cuneiform 
Inscriptions. 

The  first  column  of  the  triglott  inscriptions  of  the  time  of  the 
Achamienides,  as  is  well  known,  is  composed  in  Old  Persian ;  and 
this  was  the  first  to  be  deciphered.  The  third  column,  which  was 
not  interpreted  for  a  long  time  after  the  first,  is  in  Assyrian,  a 
Semitic  dialect. 

To  the  language  of  the  second  column  various  names  have  been 
given  j  amongst  others,  those  of  Median  and  Scythian.  This  last, 
proposed  and  employed  by  Eawlinson§  and  iNorris,  ||  is  far  too 
vague  to  be   applied   to  any  definite   Idiom,   as  explained  in  the 

*  Schicfner,  "  Sprachliche  Bcdcnken  gegen  das  Mongolenthum  der 
Skvthen,"  "  Melanges  Asiatiquos,"  ii.  p.  531.      1856. 

+  See  Gr.  Krek,  "  Einlcitung  in  die  Slavische  Litex&tnrgesohichte  und 
Darstellung  ihrer  iilteren  Period,"  i.  p.  36,  Graz,  1871;  also  Fr.  Spiegel, 
Lsche  AliiTihumskundc,"  i.  p.  '.VA'.\  and  following,  Leipzig,  1873. 

J  "Allgemeine  Ethnographie,"  p. 851.    Vienna,  lsT.'i. 

§  "Notes  on  the  Early  History  of  Babylonia,"  in  "Journal  of  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,"  xv.  p.  215. 

||  "Memoir  on  the  Soythio  Version  of  the  Behistnn  Inscription,"  "Journal 
of  the  Koyal  Asiatic  Society,"  xv.  p.  1.    London,  1853. 


140        SECOND   FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  rv. 

foregoing  paragraph.  That  of  Median  seems  more  suitable ;  and 
in  its  favour  is  urged  the  fact  that  certain  inscriptions  composed  in 
the  language  of  the  second  column  of  these  monuments  have  also 
been  found  in  the  regions  of  Ancient  Media,  unaccompanied  by 
Iranian  or  Assyrian  versions.  The  three  languages  of  these  rock 
inscriptions,  it  is  added,  must  have  been  those  of  the  three  prin- 
cipal nations  of  the  empire.  But  the  first  being  Persian  and 
the  third  Assyrian,  the  second  could  have  been  no  other  than 
Medic* 

iSTorris  held  this  so-called  Median  as  a  member  of  the  Uralo- 
Alta'ic  group,  closely  allied  to  Magyar,  Ostyak,  Permian,  and  others 
of  the  same  family.  Mordtmann  also  made  it  an  Uralo-Altaic 
language,  grouping  it,  however,  with  the  Turkish  or  Tatar  branch, t 
and  assuming  the  intrusion  at  different  epochs  of  a  certain  number 
of  Aryan  elements.  He  gave  it  the  name  of  the  language  of 
Susiana. 

Oppert  also  has  discussed  this  matter,  j  and,  after  adopting  the 
term  Scythie,  has  finally  decided  in  favour  of  Medic,  regarding  it 
as  the  language  of  the  Median  dynasty,  which  seems  to  have 
reigned  from  788  to  560  B.C.,  and  to  have  differed  both  in  language 
and  religion  from  the  dynasty  of  the  Achtemenides.  However, 
Oppert  prudently  avoids  connecting  the  language  in  question  either 
with  the  Uralo-Altaic  or  with  the  Sumerian. 

But  the  question  ultimately  hangs  on  these  two  points :  Does 
the  language  of  the  second  column  belong  to  the  Uralo-Altaic  group  % 
Is  this  language  that  of  the  Medes  ?  On  the  first  we  can  un- 
hesitatingly answer  with  Spiegel  §  that  the  language  in  question 
has  not  yet  been  deciphered.  The  above-mentioned  writers,  to 
whom  may  be  added  some  others,  such  as  Westergaard,  are  far  from 
having  induced  all  competent  judges  to  accept  their  opinion  on  the 

*  Benfey,  "  Geschichte  der  Sprachwissenschaft  und  Orientalischen  Philo- 
logie  in  Deutschland,"  p.  633.    Munich,  1869. 

f  "  Ueber  die  Keilinscnriften  zweiter  Gattung,  Zeitschrift  der  Deutschen 
Morgenlandischen  Gesellschaft,"  xxiv.  p.  76.    Leipzig,  1870. 

t  Ibid. 

§  "  Eranische  Alterthiimsknnde,"  i.  p.  381.    Leipzig,  1871. 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND   FOEM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       141 

Finnic  or  Tatar  character  of  this  tongue,  nor  has  Caldwell  been 
more  successful  with  his  assumed  Dravidian  affinity.  In  the 
present  state  of  the  question  it  therefore  seems  wise  to  await  the 
results  of  further  research. 

Besides,  it  seems  somewhat  rash  to  look  on  the  ancient  Medes  as 
a  people  of  Uralo- Altaic,  origin.  Spiegel  is  vmable  to  adopt  this 
view,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  his  arguments  are  very  formid- 
able against  it.  The  evidence  of  Herodotus  is  explicit,  and  that  of 
Strabo  no  less  so ;  and  they  both  regard  the  Medes  as  Aryans. 
Moreover,  their  proper  names  and  geographical  terms  can  all  be 
interpreted,  not  by  the  Finnic  or  Turkic,  but  by  the  Iranian 
tongues.* 

It  seems,  therefore,  reasonable,  pending  further  information,  to 
abstain  from  at  all  classifying  or  giving  any  special  name  to  the 
language  of  the  second  column  of  the  cuneiform  rock  inscriptions. 

(6)  TJie  so-called  Sumerian  or  Accadian  Language. 

Some  twenty  years  ago  it  was  supposed  that  a  race  speaking  an 
agglutinating  idiom  had  occupied  the  Babylonian  plains  before  the 
Assyrians,  and  that  Semitic  civilisation  had  gained  a  footing  in  the 
country  by  grafting  itself  on  to  this  anterior  civilisation.  To  this 
language  Hincks  gave  the  name  of  Accadian,  which,  though  pro- 
posed by  him  with  all  reserve,  seems  now  to  enjoy  a  certain 
amount  of  favour.  <  >ppert,  however,  takes  Accadian  to  be 
absolutely  synonymous  with  Assyrian,  both  simply  implying  the 
Semitic  speeeh  <>i  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  the  language  of  the 
third  column  of  the  Achaemenidian  cuneiform  inscriptions.  To 
the  race  that  La  assumed  to  have  preceded  the  Semites  in  Assyria, 
and  to  have  transmitted  to  them  their  cuneiform  letters  and  their 
civilisation,  Oppert  gives  the  name  of  Kasdo-Scythic,  ox.Suin&riany 
and  calls  their  Language  Sumerian.  We  shall  not  attempt  to  decide 
the  point  at  issue. 

The  champions  of  the  Sumerian,  or  of  the  Accadian  theory,  as 
the  case  may  be,  assume  that  this  language  disappeared  at  a  certain 

*  Spiegel,  Op.  cit.,  i.  p.  381. 


142       SECOND   FORM   OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

crisis,  but  that  the  so-called  "  Turanian  "  priests  carefully  preserved 
it  in  the  practice  of  their  religion.  From  this  there  was  needed 
but  one  step  to  set  about  restoring  the  language  in  question,  by 
means  of  monuments,  where  this  pretended  "Turanian"  text, 
written  in  Assyrian  cuneiform  characters,  was  supposed  to  be 
accompanied  by  an  interlinear  Assyrian  version.  The  step  was 
taken,  and  the  doctrine  was  proclaimed  that  the  forerunners  of  the 
Assyrian  Semites  on  Babylonian  soil  had  spoken  an  Uralo-Altaic 
tongue,  more  specially  allied  to  the  Finnic  group ;  that  they  had 
reached  a  high  state  of  culture ;  that  they  had  communicated  to 
the  Assyrian  immigrants  their  cuneiform  graphic  system ;  lastly, 
that  before  losing  their  own  language  they  had  initiated  the  new 
comers  into  a  civilisation  which  these  latter  had  not,  therefore, 
arrived  at  independently. 

This  Sumerian  theory  was  not  of  a  nature  to  be  accepted  off- 
hand, and  after  twenty  round  years  since  its  announcement  it  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  yet  hopelessly  routed  the  objections  of  its 
opponents.  On  the  contrary,  not  satisfied  with  merely  assailing  it, 
M.  Joseph  Halevy*  has  recently  attempted  an  interpretation  of 
the  texts  totally  different  from  that  of  the  "  Accadians."  He  first 
of  all  set  himself  to  show  that  the  language  in  question  has 
nothing  in  common  with  those  of  the  Uralo-Altaic  family,  from 
which  its  phonetic  system  differs  widely,  while  its  roots  have 
neither  the  same  form  nor  the  same  use.  Moreover,  the  manner  of 
formino-  words  is  quite  different — the  pronouns  have  nothing  in 
common,  the  conjugation  is  constructed  on  essentially  different  con- 
ditions, and,  lastly,  the  two  vocabularies  do  not  bear  serious  compari- 
son. There  are  scarcely  a  dozen  so-called  Accadian  words  that  can 
be  at  all  made  to  answer  to  a  corresponding  number  brought 
together  from  the  various  Finnic  tongues.  Halevy,  therefore,  holds 
that  the  presence  of  an  Uralo-Altaic  speaking  people  on  Mesopo- 
tamian  soil  has  been  proved  neither  by  the  monuments,  which  all 
belong  to  Semitic  art,  nor  by  the  geographical  names  (also  Semitic), 
nor  yet  by  the  evidence  of  writers. 

*  "  Observations  Critiques  sur  les  pretendus  Touraniens  de  la  Babylonie," 
"  Journal  Asiatique."     June,  1874. 


Chap,  it.]     SECOND   FORM   OF    SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.       14S 

In  fact,  the  Accadian  texts  would  seem  to  be  Assyrian,  pure 
and  simple,  no  longer  written  with  a  phonetic  system,  but  by  means 
of  monograms  artificially  combined.  In  other  words,  we  would 
have,  in  both  cases,  nothing  but  Assyrian,  the  so-called  Sumerian 
texts  being  merely  written  in  an  ideographic  instead  of  a  phonetic 
graphic  system. 

Let  us,  however,  hasten  to  say  that  M.  Halevy's  theory,  especially 
in  its  positive  statements,  does  not  seem  to  us  at  all  convincing. 
We  do  not,  of  course,  say  that  it  is  absolutely  improbable,  but  we 
cannot  admit  as  conclusive  the  proofs  on  which  it  relies.  But  we 
do  not  on  that  account  accept  the  Sumerian  or  Accadian  theory, 
on  which,  till  better  informed,  we  shall  continue  to  hold  the  same 
views  that  M.  Kenan  does.* 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  before  the  arrival  of  the  Assyrians 
and  of  the  Iranians,  Babylonia  had  already  been  the  field  of  a  true 
civilisation,  which,  adds  M.  Benan,  very  probably  possessed,  and 
even  invented  the  cuneiform  manner  of  writing.  But  to  convert 
their  speech  into  an  Uralo-Altai'c  language  passes  all  reasonable 
bounds.  There  were  good  grounds  to  feel  surprised  at  seeing 
"this  ancient  underlying  Babylonish  culture  credited  to  the 
Turkish,  Finnic,  or  Hungarian  races — races  that  have  scarcely 
ever  been  able  to  do  aught  but  destroy,  and  who  have  never 
created  a  civilisation  of  their  own.  Truth,  however,  may  at  times 
seem  unlikely,  and  if  they  can  prove  to  us  that  Turks,  Finns, 
and  Hungarians  really  were  the  founders  of  the  most  powerful 
and  the  most  intelligent  of  the  ante-Semitic  and  ante-Aryan  civi- 
lisations, we  shall  believe — for  all  <)  priori  considerations  must  yield 
1o  ')  posteriori  arguments.  But  the  strength  of  such  proofs  must 
be  in  proportion  to  the  unlikelihood  of  the  wsue."  Let  us  add, 
that  whatever  may  be  constantly  said  to  the  contrary,  these  proofs 
},  |  ■■  ■  ,•  .1  been  supplied.  We  are  quite  ready  to  accept  the 
Sumerian,  and  class  it  with  the  agglutinating  idioms,  ami  even 
attach  it  to  the  Finnic  group  \  but  we  awail  conclusive  arguments, 
a  genuine   grammar  — not  a  of    etymologies  which  cannot. 

*  "Journal  AHiatique,"  p.  42.    July,  L87S. 


144       SECOND    FORM   OF   SPEECH— AGGLUTINATION.     [Chap.  iv. 

advance  the  question  a  single  step.  Much — too  much,  perhaps — is 
already  written  on  the  Accadian  theory,  whereas  a  short  hut  methodic 
work  might  suffice  to  cause  it  to  he  accepted.  Such  a  demonstra- 
tion may  he  near  at  hand,  hut  so  far  it  has  not  appeared.  The 
defenders  of  the  Sumerian  theory  must,  ahove  all,  he  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  phonetics,  the  structure,  and  the  special  vocabu- 
lary of  the  Uralo-Altaic  idioms,  which  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be 
the  case  with  all  those  that  have  written  upon  the  subject. 

§  20. — The  Theory  of  the  Turanian  Languages. 

During  the  formative  stage  of  new  sciences,  while  the  chief 
object  still  is  to  group  and  classify  the  first  secured  results,  there 
often  arise  some  of  those  general  theories  alluring  to  minds  fond 
of  the  simple  and  the  easy,  but  which  are  doomed,  soon  or  late, 
to  collapse  hopelessly  before  the  onward  march  of  sound  criticism. 

Philology  has  not  escaped  from  such  theories,  amongst  the  most 
eccentric  of  which  may  be  included  that  of  a  Turanian  Family, 
which,  notwithstanding  its  improbability,  still  continues  to  enjoy 
a  certain  credit.  This  theory  may  be  said  to  have  two  essential 
qualities.  It  is  at  once  indefensible  and  pretentious.  Before 
speaking  of  its  origin  and  its  name,  let  us  see  wherein  it  consists. 

And  in  the  first  place  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between  two 
varieties  of  the  Turanian  school — the  absolute  and  the  moderate 
party. 

The  first,  or  the  orthodox,  school  holds  that  all  languages  that 
are  neither  Aryan,  Semitic,  nor  Hamitic,  constitute  a  "Turanian" 
group.  The  idioms  of  this  group  would  have  in  common  not  only 
a  certain  amount  of  structural  processes,  but  also  a  large  number  of 
roots.  There  would  therefore  thus  be  a  common  language,  a 
Turanian  mother-tongue.  In  some  indefinite  and  unexplained  way, 
there  are  admitted  into  this  group  two  great  divisions,  a  Northern 
and  a  Southern  ;  the  first  comprising  the  already-described  Uralo- 
Altaic  idioms,  the  second  not  only  all  the  other  agglutinating 
tongues,  but  also  the  monosyllabic  languages  of  the  extreme  East. 

The  second,  or  heterodox,  party  may  be  divided  into  two  varie- 


Chap,  iv.]     SECOND  FORM    OF    SPEECH—  AGGLUTINATION.        115 

ties.  The  first,  strictly  speaking,  no  longer  believes  in  the  Turanian 
theory  proper,  but  by  a  sort  of  conservative  instinct  would  like  to 
preserve  at  least  the  name  of  the  thing.  This  they  apply  to  our 
Cralo- Altaic  family,  including  all  its  five  groups,  as  above  ex- 
plained. 

The  second  variety,  less  daring  than  the  previous  one,  makes  the 
Turanian  group  consist  not  only  of  the  Uralo- Altaic  tongues,  but 
also  of  the  1  )raviilian,  the  Malayo-Polynesian,  the  Tibetan,  and  the 
Siamese.  We  are  simply  stating  the  case,  without  criticising,  hence 
are  not  called  upon  to  ask  why  Chinese  is  excluded,  together  with 
the  Annamese,  the  Eurman,  the  Caucasian  tongues,  the  Basque,  the 
Nubian  and  Fula  groups,  the  Corean,  the  Japanese,  the  American, 
the  sub- Arctic,  Australian,  African,  Hottentot,  and  New  Guinea 
languages. 

This  theory,  we  have  said,  is  essentially  deceptive,  calculated  to 
mislead  the  credulous,  or  those  who  lack  time  and  the  means  of 
testing  for  themselves  the  statements  advanced  in  the  name  of 
science  itself.  Some  venerable  patriarch,  "  Tur,"  is  assumed  to  have 
given  birth  to  a  race,  whose  speech  would  thus  be  the  common 
mother-tongue  of  the  various  so-called  Turanian  idioms.  A  Persian 
legend  was  skilfully  grafted  on  to  this  invention,  nor  did  Iudaico- 
Christian  orthodoxy  fail  to  discount  a  theory  which,  though  utterly 
unsupported  by  any  serious  argument,  did  not  on  that  account  seem 
the  less  acceptable,  since  it  readily  accommodated  itself  to  the 
teachings  of  Holy  Writ, 

If  there  is  one  fact  better  verified  than  another  it  is  thai  which 
Schleicher,  Whitney,  and  so  many  others  with  them  have  clearly 
shown,  namely,  that  these  pretended  Turanian  languages  have  bul 
one  thing  in  common  the  whiiasic.il  name  conferred  on  thcin. 
The  general  structure  of  Basque,  Japanese,  and  Magyar,  is  doubt- 

iir.  They  all  suffix  to  the  noun  perfectly  analogou 
ments,  thai  is,  they  are  all,  in  a  word,  agglutinating.  Bui  the 
elements  constituting  the  common  fcoct  of  each  are  different,  and 
their  roots  incapable  of  being  reduced  to  unity.  It  is  in  vain 
boldly  to  proclaim  th'-ir  common  origin  or  identity,  while  we  are 
unable  even  remotely  to  reduce  them  to  a  common  form. 

i. 


146  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

The  Turanian  theory  cannot  therefore  he  taken  seriously.  Begot 
of  much  assumption,  it  vanishes  hefore  a  very  little  criticism. 
Hence  it  is  to  he  regretted  that,  while  condemning  it,  certain  authors 
should  do  the  name  of  Turanian  the  honour  of  looking  on  it  as  a 
thing  that  can  he  no  longer  got  rid  of.  It  is  hy  this  very  con- 
descension that  it  may  acquire  fresh  vitality,  and  possihly  succeed 
in  establishing  itself  permanently.  The  hest  means  of  combating  it 
is  therefore,  perhaps,  to  pass  it  over  in  silence.  The  unlucky  term 
"  Semitic  "  answers  at  least  to  a  well-defined  collection  of  definite 
facts,  and  can  he  accepted  without  any  reserve.  But  that  of 
"  Turanian "  and  "  Turanian  tongues  "  is  only  calculated  to  per- 
petuate serious  misconceptions.* 


CHAPTER  V. 

THIRD    FORM    OP    SPEECH INFLECTION. 

"We  have  now  reached  the  third  and  last  form  of  articulate 
speech — inflection.  We  have  seen  that  during  the  monosyllabic 
period  root  and  word  were  one,  the  sentence  being  a  mere 
series  of  monosyllabic  roots  isolated  one  from  the  other.  In  the 
second  phase  we  saw  that  certain  roots,  passing  from  the  position 
of  independent  words  to  that  of  mere  suffixes  or  prefixes,  serve 
henceforth  to  express  the  relations  only,  whether  active  or  passive,, 
of  the  roots  that  have  retained  their  full  meaning. 

In  the  first  stage,  the  formrda  of  the  word,  as  already  explained, 
is  simply  R,  and  that  of  the  sentence  R  +  R  +  R,  &c,  R  standing 
for  the  root.     If  we  represent  by  r  those  roots  whose  sense  has 

*  The  term  "  Turanian  "  continues  to  hold  its  ground  in  popular  English 
works  on  ethnology,  as  in  Dr.  R.  Brown's  "  Races  of  Mankind,"  the  fourth 
and  last  volume  of  -which  has  recently  appeared.  In  it  the  human  race  is 
divided  into  the  following  groups,  an  arrangement  which,  it  need  scarcely 
be  remarked,  is  utterly  irreconcilable  with  any  intelligible  philological 
distribution:  1.  American  ;  2.  Oceanic  ;  3.  Turanian;  4.  Persian  ;  5.  Indian  ; 
6.  African;  7.  Caucasian;  8.  European. — Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  147 

become  obscured,  and  which  thus  pass  to  the  state  of  prefixes  and 
suffixes,  we  shall  have  as  formulae  of  the  words  in  the  second 
period,  Eb,  Err,  rE,  rEr,  and  such  like  analogous  combinations. 

Two  systems  of  languages,  the  Semito-Hamitic  and  the  Aryan, 
after  passing  through  the  monosyllabic  and  the  agglutinating 
phases  successively,  arrived  at  last,  and  independently  of  each 
other,  at  the  third  or  inflecting  state. 

§  l.—W7tat  is  Inflection? 

Its  essence  consists  in  the  power  of  the  root  to  express,  by  a 
modification  of  its  own  form,  its  various  relations  to  other  roots. 
In  an  inflecting  language,  however,  the  roots  of  all  words  are  not 
necessarily  mo  lifted,  remaining  at  times  such  as  they  were  in  the 
agglutinating  stage,  but  they  may  be  modified.  Languages  in 
which  relations  may  thus  be  expressed,  not  only  by  suffixes  and 
prefixes,  but  also  by  a  modification  of  the  form  of  the  roots,  are 
inflectional  languages. 

Eepresenting  this  power  of  the  root  by  the  index  x,  the  aggluti- 
nating formula  Eb  may  become  Exr  in  the  inflecting  stage.  Nay, 
more;  not  only  may  the  "full"  root — as  the  Chinese  call  it — 
receive  this  index,  as  in  the  foregoing  formula,  but  even  the  rela- 
tional root,  or  suffix,  may  be  similarly  modified.  An  example 
taken  from  the  Aryan  system  will  make  this  dear.  The  Sanskrit 
<7/,  he  goes,  the  Latin  it  ("Id  form  eit),  ami  the  Lithuanian  eiti 
Bow  all  from  one  common  form  AIti= he  goes.  The  two  roots  of 
which  this  word  is  composed  are  I  =  to  go,  ami  TA  =the  demonstrative 
pronoun  met  with  in  the  Greek  to  the  (muter),  and  in  the  Latin 
These  two  roots  have  been  subjected  to  inflection  in  the  word 
in  question,  though  we  do  not  know  the  peal  cause  that  has  brought 
about  the  modification  of  the  radical  I  to  AX  We  do  know, 
however,  tli at   the  element,  TA  has  been  changed  to  Tl  in  passing 

from  the  pa*  ive  to  the  active  state.     Thus  we  End  this  pr am 

with  a   pa  use  wherever  it  retains  its  pure  form,  as  in  tin- 

Latin  9Crip4Vr8,  written,  rujp-tu-8,  broken;  in  the  Greek  Of-To-s, 
placed,  w«fl-To-r,  known.     In  its  modified   form,  on  the  contrary,  it 

l  -1 


148  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.        [Chap.  v. 

imparts  an  active  sense  to  the  root  to  which  it  is  suffixed,  as  in  the 
Latin  ves-tis,  and  the  Greek  iiav-n-s,  a  seer.  This  same  suffix  ti  has 
produced  in  the  Aryan  tongues  a  number  of  active  nouns,  as 
opposed  to  the  passive  and  older  forms  in  fa.  Thus,  in  .Sanskrit, 
pati  =  master,  lord  =  the  Latin  poti  (nominative  potis  or  pos,  as  in 
compos,  i in i "  '•-■)  =  the  Lithuanian  pati  (nominative  pats). 

In  an  inflecting  idiom  the  formula  of  the  word  may  therefore 
also  be  EXRX,  Rrx,  Errx,  besides  many  other  combinations  that 
cannot  here  be  enumerated. 

§  2. — Aryan  and  Semitic  Inflection. 

We  shall  presently  notice  in  more  or  less  detail  the  two  systems 
of  inflecting  languages — the  Aryan  (Sanskrit,  Persian,  Greek, 
Latin,  Slave,  Keltic,  &c.)  and  the  Semitic  (Hebrew,  Arabic,  &c). 
But  a  very  important  fact  of  a  general  nature  must  be  first  placed 
in  a  clear  light.  It  is  that  the  Aryan  and  the  Semitic  languages 
differ  altogether  from  each  other,  not  only  in  their  roots,  but  also 
in  their  structure  itself.  Both  are  unquestionably  inflecting  tongues, 
but  the  inflection  of  the  one  is  not  that  of  the  other.  Schleicher* 
and  Whitney  t  have  examined  this  question  carefully,  in  the  safe 
and  methodical  way  that  characterises  all  their  writings,  and  Ave 
cannot  do  better  than  here  reproduce  what  they  say  on  the  subject. 

Before  breaking  up  into  distinct  languages,  says  Schleicher,  the 
Semitic  system  had  no  roots  to  which  a  sonant  form  of  any  sort  can 
be  given,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Aryan  system.  The  general  sense  of 
the  root  rested  in  simple  consonants,  this  general  sense  receiving 
its  various  relational  meanings  by  the  addition  of  vowels  to  the 
consonants.  Thus  the  three  consonants  q,  t,  I,  constitute  the  root 
of  the  Hebrew  qdtal  and  of  the  Arabic  qatala  -  he  killed,  of  qutila  = 
he  was  killed,  of  the  Hebrew  hiqttt  =  he  caused  to  kill,  and  of  the 
Arabic   maqtulun  = killed.     The  case  is  altogether  different  in  the 

*  "Die  Deutsche  Sprache,"  2nd  edition,  p.  21,  Stuttgart,  1869; 
"  Semitisch  und  Indo-Germauisch,  Beitrage  zur  Vergleichcnden  Sprach- 
forschung,"  ii.  p.  236,  Berlin,  1861. 

f  "  Language  and  the  Study  of  Language,"  3rd  edition,  p.  300.  London, 
1870. 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD   FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  149 

Aryan   system,   where  the    sense    and    the    full   utterance    of   the 
syllable  are  coincident. 

Further,  the  Semitic  root  admits  of  all  the  vowels  capable  of 
modifying  its  sense,  -while  the  Aryan  root  possesses  one  organic 
vowel,  as  in  the  root  of  the  Sanskrit  manve  =  I  mind  or  think; 
of  the  Greek  fxevos  =  the  mind;  of  the  Latin  mens,  moneo',  of  the 
Gothic  gamunan  =  to  mind,  where  the  organic  vowel  of  the  root  is 
not  a,  e,  o,  »,  indifferently,  hut,  necessarily,  >i  alone.  Besides,  this 
organic  vowel  can  he  changed  into  certain  others,  only  under  certain 
conditions  and  according  to  laws  recognised  and  determined  by 
philological  analysis. 

A  third  difference  consists  in  the  triliteral  character  of  the 
Semitic  root:  qtl  =  to  kill,  Mb  =  to  write,  dbr- to  speak,  derived 
no  doubt  from  simpler  primeval  forms,  hut  which  are  now  thus 
reconstituted.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Aryan  root  is  much  more 
varied  in  form,  as  in  &  =  to  go,  sa  =  to  pour,  to  shed,  though  always 
monosyllahic. 

The  Semitic  system  had  tlnee  cases  and  two  tenses  only,  while 
tin-  Aryan  has  eight  cases  and  at  least  five  tenses. 

All  Aryan  words  have  one  and  the  same  form,  that  of  the  root 
(modified  or  not)  accompanied  by  the  derivative  suffix.  This 
form  occurs  in  Semitic  also,  as  in  the  Arabic  qatalta  thou  man, 
thou  hast  killed;  but  it  also  possesses  the  form  in  which  the 
derivative  elemenl  is  prefixed,  where  the  root  comes  between  two 
derivative  elements,  and  others  also. 

Semitic  inflection,  observes  Whitney  in  his  turn,  is  wholly 
differenl  from  the  Aryan,  so  that  the  two  systems  cannot  he  derived 
oir-  from  tie-  other  any  more  than  from  one  common  system.  The 
fundamental  character  of  the  Semitic  resides  in  the  triliteral  form 
of  it s  roots,  which  are  composed  of  three  consonants,  to  which  are 
joined  various  vowels  iii  their  formative  capacity— that  is,  as 
formative  elements  indicating  the  various  relations  of  the  root. 
Thus  in  Arabic  the  rout  qtl  presents  the  idea  of  to  kill,  and  qatala 
means  he  killed,  qutila=he  was  killed,  qatl  murderer,  qitl 
enemy,  Ac.      Jointlj   with   this   inflection,  dm-   1o   the   use   made   ,,(' 

various  vowels,  the  Semitic   also   forms   its   words  by   means  of 


150  THIRD   FORM   OP   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

suffixes  and  prefixes,  and  occasionally  with  infixes.  But  it  does 
not  pile  up  affixes  on  affixes,  or  derivatives  on  derivatives — whence 
the  almost  complete  uniformity  of  the  Semitic  tongues. 

The  structure  of  the  Semitic  verb  differs  profoundly  from  that  of 
the  Indo-European.  In  the  second  and  third  persons  it  distinguishes 
the  gender  (masculine  or  feminine)  of  the  subject :  qatalat  =  she 
killed,  qatala  =  he  killed — which  is  not  the  case  in  the  Aryan 
tongues:  bharaM=he  or  she  bears.*  The  contrast  between  past, 
present,  and  future — so  fundamental  in  Aryan — does  not  exist  in 
Semitic,  which  has  two  tenses  only,  answering,  the  one  to  the 
action  done,  and  the  other  to  the  action  not  done. 

We  thus  see  how  serious  are  the  structural  differences  between 
the  two  systems,  and  how  discrepant  is  their  method  of  inflection. 
To  what  has  been  said  must  be  added  the  other  characteristic  fact, 
that  the  Aryan  system  alone  has  the  power  of  augmenting  its 
vowels.     This  feature  consists  in  prefixing  an  a  to  an  a,  an  i,  or  a 

*  But  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  process  by  which  gender  is  or  is 
not  distinguished  in  the  personal  endings,  constitutes  a  fundamental  differ- 
ence  between  the  Aryan  and  Semitic  families,  or  whether  the  fact  that  the 
organic  Aryan  does  not  so  distinguish  gender  is  due  to  more  than  an 
accidental  line  of  development  taken  by  it  at  a  certain  stage.  It  is  at  least 
certain  that  Hindi,  without  at  all  ceasing  to  be  Aryan  in  its  structure,  has 
also  come  in  the  course  of  time  to  distinguish  gender  in  its  conjugation,  not 
only  in  the  second  and  third,  but  in  all  three  persons,  singular  and  plural  ; 
and  not  only  in  tenses  that  may  be  looked  upon  merely  as  declined  parti- 
ciples, but  in  the  future,  which  is  based  on  an  organic  aorist.  Hence  it  is 
that  this  tense  is,  so  to  say,  both  conjugated  and  declined,  as  thus  : 
Masculine  form.  Feminine  form. 
Sing.  1.       jalunga  jaliingl  "N 

2.  3.  jalega  jalegl       (  Shall  or  will 

PI.  1.  3.  jalenge  jalengln  f         burn. 

2.  jaloge  jalogln  J 

There  are  even  cases  in  Hindi  where  the  verb  so  agrees,  not  with  the  sub- 
ject but  with  the  object,  as  in  us-ne  larkyan  marin=he  struck  the  girls  ;  here 
■nidrin  =  struck,  being  feminine  plural  in  agreement  with  the  object  larkyan  — 
girls.  Thus  it  is  that  features  which  would  at  first  sight  seem  to  constitute 
radical  differences  between  two  distinct  families  of  speech  may  be  found  to 
exist.in  both,  showing  that  their  presence  or  absence  is  often  the  result  of 
some  particular  tendencies  worked  out  while  the  languages  were  being 
developed  either  in  a  synthetic  or  an  analytic  direction. — Note  by  Translator. 


€hap.  v.]  THIRD    FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  151 

u  radical.  In  the  Aryan  form  AImi  =  I  go  (Sanskrit  emi,  Greek 
eifxi,  Lithuanian  eimi)  the  radical  7  =  to  go,  is  augmented  in  this 
particular  tense,  mood,  and  person,  and  in  Semitic  there  is  nothing 
resembling  this. 

These  two  languages  have  therefore  emerged  from  the  agglu- 
tinating state  by  different  ways,  and  are  accordingly  as  independent 
of  each  other  in  their  structure  as  in  their  roots,  the  assumed 
possibility  of  reducing  which  to  older  forms  common  to  both  no 
longer  calls  for  special  refutation.* 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  speak  in  their  turn,  under  three  main 
divisions,  of  the  Semitic,  Hamitic,  and  Aryan  languages. 

(.4)   TJie  Semitic  Languages. 

It  is  needless  to  say  how  entirely  conventional  are  the  terms 
Semite  and  Semitic  tongues.  They  do  not  even  agree  with  the 
biblical  account,  which  treats  as  descendants  of  Shem  races  whose 
idioms  cannot  be  classed  amongst  those  that  we  call  Semitic,  and 
which,  on  the  other  hand,  does  not  regard  him  as  the  father  of 
peoples  whose  speech  is  undoubtedly  Semitic.  But  however  this 
be,  the  Avoids  hare  now  acquired  such  currency,  that  it  would  be 
hopeless  to  attempt  to  supplant  them  by  others  of  a  more  accept- 
able nature.  The  mure  rational  expression,  Si/ro-Arnhic,  is  some- 
times used,  but  it  can  scarcely  be  expected  to  lake  the  place  of 
the  now  generally  received  nomenclature.  As  remarked  by 
M.  iienant  in  his  now  classical  work,  to  which  we  are  largely 
indebted,  its  use  can  occasion  no  inconvenience,  once  it  is  taken 
as  merely  a  conventional  name,  its  utter  inadequacy  being  other- 
wise thoroughly  understood. 

§  3.-77"'  Semite  and  the  Semitic  Languages  collectively. 

In  spite  of  the  labours  of  Gresenius  (1780-1812)  and  of  Kwald, 
we  still  lack  a  comparative  grammar  of  these  tongues,  and  even 

any  really  comprehensive   work  on  their  main   features.     Such  a 

*  Th.  Ntwlteke  ind  Occident,"  ii.  p.  W5.     Gtottingen,  L868. 

t  "Histoire  Generate  et   Systeme   Comparee  tea  Semitiqoes," 

premiere  panic,  "  ELtetoire  Generate  de  Semitiqnes." 


152  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

work  once  successfully  carried  out,  the  so-called  Hanrite  group 
should  be  taken  in  hand,  and  the  general  Hamite  forms  should 
then  be  compared  with  the  primitive  Semitic  forms,  and  an  effort 
be  thus  made  at  last  to  restore  the  broad  outlines  of  a  rudimentary 
Hamitico-Semitic  grammar.  Such  a  grammar  might  doubtless  be 
contained  in  a  very  few  pages,  but  the  possibility  of  composing  it 
can  scarcely  be  questioned.  A  deeper  insight  may  even  yet  be 
had  into  the  secrets  of  the  evolution  of  inflecting  idioms,  so  as  to 
attempt  the  reconstruction  of  the  main  features  they  must  have 
presented  while  still  in  the  agglutinating  stage. 

Efforts  have  already  been  made  to  reduce  to  a  biliteral  form  the 
triliteral,  or  rather  triconsonantal,  Semitic  roots,  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  hope  that  this  undertaking  will  prove  successful.*  Benfey 
rightly  thinks  that  it  will  be  greatly  promoted  by  a  knowledge 
of  the  Hamitic  roots.  +  The  Semitic  quadriliteral  roots,  no  one 
now  doubts,  will  be  all,  without  exception,  ultimately  restored  to 
an  older  triliteral  form. 

In  the  Semitic  system  the  noun  is  formed,  in  the  first  instance, 
by  the  addition  of  certain  vowels  to  the  triconsonantal  root. 

It  will  be  the  duty  of  a  comparative  Semitic  Grammar  to  deter- 
mine the  use  made  of  the  various  vowels  that  impart  such  and 
such  a  character  to  the  noun  thus  formed.  This  method  of 
nominal  formation  is  elementary  enough ;  but  there  is  another, 
that  of  derivation,  in  which  certain  syllables  are  prefixed  or  even 
suffixed  to  the  root,  the  latter  process  being  more  recent  than  that 
in  which  they  are  prefixed. 

In  the  common  Semite  speech,  the  noun  would  seem  to  have 
had  the  three  genders,  J  the  neuter  disappearing  at  a  very  remote 
period.       The    masculine  was    expressed   by   no    special    element, 

*  Chavee,  "  Les  Langnes  et  les  Races,"  p.  44,  Paris,  1862 ;  Renan,  op.  cit., 
i.  ch.  3 ;  "  Rapport  Annuel  Journal  Asiatique,"  vii.  serie  iv.  p.  27,  Paris, 
1874 ;  Schleicher,  "  Die  Unterscheidung  von  Nomen  und  Verbum  in  der 
Lautlichen  Form,"  p.  18. 

+  "  Geschichte  der  Sprachwissenschaft  und  Orientalischen  Philologie  in 
Deutschland,"  p.  691.     Munich,  1869. 

X  Ewald,  "  Ausfuhrliches  Lehrbnch  der  Hebraischen  Sprache,"  8th  ed. 
p.  415.     Gottingen,  1870. 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD   F0B3I   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  153 

whereas  the  feminine  was  in  all  likelihood  denoted  by  the  ending 
at*  The  organic  plural  ending  was  probably  mthi,i  possibly  umu, 
or  unHyX  or  even  some  other  form,  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
anterior  to  the  dual. 

In  the  declension  there  were  three  cases,  a  number  much  inferior 
to  that  of  the  Aryan  noun.  They  were  the.  nominative,  genitive, 
and  accusative,  but  they  have  disappeared,  to  a  large  extent,  from 
all  the  idioms  of  the  Semitic  group  except  the  Arabic,  as  will  be 
seen  when  we  come  to  treat  each  of  them  separately.  According 
to  some  writers  the  vowel  u  was  the  sign  of  the  nominative,  i  of 
the  genitive  (in  principle)  and  a  of  the  accusative.  S  The  case- 
endings,  according  to  Fr.  Midler  were  :  u  for  lift,  third  personal 
pronoun;  i  relational  suffix,  and  the  demonstrative  <m.\\ 

The  common  Semite  tongue  had  two  tenses  only,  as  above  stated 
— a  past  tense  denoting  finished  action,  and  an  imperfect  expressing 
incomplete  action.  They  are  distinguished  from  each  other  by  the 
position  of  the  pronominal  suffix  in  regard  to  the  theme.  Thus  the 
suffix  ta  of  the  second  person  masculine  singular,  if  placed  after 
the  theme  marks  complete  action,  or  the  past  tense  :  katabata  = 
thou  hast  written,  in  Arabic  Icatabta  ;  if  placed  before  the  root  it 
denotes  unfinished  action,  or  the  imperfect  tense,  as  in  the  Arabic 
tdkataba. 

According  to  Fr.  Midler,  the  organic  Semite  verb  was  capable  of 
being  conjugated  on  fifteen  themes  (or  modifications  of  the  root): 
the  simple  form  1cataba=he  wrote,  and  a  strengthened  theme 
kattaba,  followed  by  a  series  of  secondary  ones,  formed  by  the 
help  of  sundry  reflective  and  causative  prefixes.  However,  none  of 
the  |  of  the  group  have  retained  these  fifteen  tonus,  all 

having    lost   BOme,   and    several    a  great    many  of   them.      The  same 

*  Bwald,  "Aurfiihrlichea  Lehrbuch  der  Eebraischen  Spraobe,"  8th  ed. 
p.  446.     Gottingen,  1870. 

f  Ibid.,  p.  1(65. 

-j-  |.  DerVerbalausdrucli   in  Bemitisohen  Bpraohkreiae,"  "Sit- 

znng  der  Phil.  Bist.  Classe  der  K.  Aiademie  [der  WiasenBohaften„" 

520.     Vienna,  L868. 

§  OlflbauBen,  op.  «*.,  p.  '^'>.    Cf.  Bwald,  op.  eit.,  p.  528  and  following. 

||  Op.  cit,  p.  51'J. 


154  THIRD   FORM   OP   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

writer  tliinks  that  the  passive  was  merely  a  reflective  form,  con- 
structed hy  the  aid  of  the  pronominal  element  hu.  The  restored 
form  kutaba  =  it  has  been  written — in  Arabic  Mtiba — would  re- 
present an  older  huhaMba.  Comparative  Semitic  grammar  is  so 
little  advanced  that  it  is  well  to  record  the  sound  and  methodical 
essays  in  tins  direction,  although  still  in  a  very  incomplete  state. 

The  Semitic  alphabet,  in  its  main  features,  would  seem  to  have 
been  developed  out  of  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics,*  not  exactly  by 
the  Phoenicians,  says  Ewald,  but  by  some  Semitic  people  intimately 
associated  Avith  Egypt.  Anyhow  the  name  of  the  people  is  now 
unknown  to  whom  civilisation  is  indebted  for  the  immense  service 
of  having  converted  the  old  hieroglyphics  into  an  alphabetic 
system.  This  alphabet  consists  of  twenty-two  consonants,  each  of 
which  must  have  expressed  the  sound  answering  to  the  initial  sound 
of  the  being  or  object  represented  by  the  sign  itself.  Thus  the  old 
picture  of  the  camel  stood  for  a  g  in  the  Semite  alphabet,  because 
the  name  of  the  camel  began  with  a  g  in  their  language  :  Chaldee, 
gimel;  Syriac,  gomal.  It  is  needless  to  observe  that  these  new 
alphabetical  signs  were  diversely  modified  by  the  various  peoples 
adopting  them. 

The  Semitic  graphic  system  is  generally  divided  into  three 
distinct  groups.  The  western  comprised  the  Phoenician  and  the 
old  Hebrew,  which  latter  was  still  current  in  the  second  century 
before  our  era.  The  eastern  branch  embraced  the  regions  of  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Tigris.  Being  of  a  rounder  form  than  the 
western  type,  it  was  soon  changed  into  a  cursive  style,  which  was 
diffused  over  the  countries  to  the  west  and  north  of  Arabia.  In 
the  south  of  Arabia  itself  the  third  or  Himyaro-Ethiopic  system 
had  been  developed.  We  shall  say  a  few  words  on  each  of  these 
three  varieties,  when  treating  of  the  several  idioms  of  the  Semitic 
group. 

To  the  Assyrian  cuneiform  writing  of  the  third  text  of  in- 
scriptions of  the  Achsemenides  must  be  assigned  a  totally  different 
origin,  as  wdl  be  seen  in  its  proper  place. 

*  E.  de  Rouge,  "Memoire  sur  l'Origine  Egyptienne  de  1' Alphabet 
Phenicien."     Paris,  1874. 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  155 

The  classification  of  the  Semitic  idioms  is  now  fairly  determined, 
though  at  first  far  from  being  so  easy  to  settle  as  that  of  the  Aryan 
family.  In  truth  they  do  not  present  amongst  themselves  such 
marked  features  as  those,  for  instance,  that  distinguish  the  Keltic 
from  the  Iranian,  the  Italic  from  the  Slavonic  branches.  It  has 
been  justly  remarked  that  all  the  various  Semitic  idioms  do  not 
differ  more  widely  from  each  other,  than  do  the  different  members 
of  one  single  branch  of  the  Aryan  family  ;  as,  for  instance,  Russian, 
Bohemian,  and  Croatian  (in  the  Slavonic) ;  English,  Flemish,  and 
Danish  (in  the  Teutonic  branch). 

Still  we  may  reckon  three  sufficiently  distinct  groups  in  the 
Semitic  family  : 

The   Arameo-Assyrian    Group,    comprising    the    two    Aramaic 
dialects  Chaldee  and  Syriac,  together  with  the  Assyrian. 
The  Canaanitic  Group,  embracing  Hebrew  and  Phoenician. 
The  Arabic   Group,  including  Arabic  proper  and  the  idioms  of 
South  Arabia  (and  Abyssinia) — Himyaratic  and  EhMi  :  Gheez  and 
Tigre;  Amharic,  Harrari. 

Some  writer  reduce  this  classification  to  two  groups,  including  the 
iirst  two  in  one  single  branch,  which  they  call  the  northern,  in 
contrast  with  the  southern,  composed  of  the  two  varieties  of  the 
Arabic  group. 

We  shall  now  briefly  notice  these  various  idioms,  ami  endeavour, 
in  conclusion,  to  ascertain  whether  it  might  not  be  possible  to  form 
some  eonjefcture  as  to  their  original  home  and  common  primeval 
type. 

^  4. — Tlie  Arameo-Assyrian  Group. 

(1)  Chaldee  <in<l  Syriac. 

The  name  of  Aramean  is  given  to  two  closely  related  varieties  of 
this  group:  the  Chaldee,  or  eastern,  and  the  Syriac,  or  western 
dialect.  The  firsi  i-  spread  over  the  greater  part,  if  not  tin-  whole, 
of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  the  second  over  Mesopotamia  and  Syria. 

it  general  character,  compared  with  the  cognate  tongues,  con- 
sisted the  greater  low  it  has  sustained  of  the  old  Semitic  vowels, 


156  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

which  relative  inferiority  may  he  attributed  to  its  earlier  develop- 
ment. Though,  as  stated,  differing  little  from  each  other,  their 
accentual  system  is  quite  distinct.  While  the  accent  in  Chaldee 
falls  in  principle  on  the  last  syllable,  affecting  the  penultimate  in 
certain  special  cases  only,  in  Syriac,  on  the  contrary,  it  falls  regularly 
on  the  penultimate,  in  exceptional  cases  alone  affecting  the  final 
syllable. 

Of  the  primitive  Aramean  tongue  no  documents  have  survived, 
such  as  Ave  possess  of  the  Assyrian,  which  we  shall  presently  speak 
of.  The  oldest  Aramean  texts  are  contained  in  the  sacred  writings 
of  the  Jews.  They  are  generally  spoken  of  as  biblical  Chaldee, 
and  may  date  from  the  fifth  or  sixth  century  before  our  era.  Other 
Aramean  passages  in  Holy  Writ  are  still  more  recent,  and  about  the 
Christian  era  there  appear  the  Targums,  translations  and  paraphrases 
of  the  Jewish  writings.  The  language  of  the  Talmuds,  some  four 
or  five  centuries  older,  is  much  more  affected  by  foreign  elements, 
borrowed  from  the  surrounding  languages. 

In  his  history  of  the  Semitic  tongues,  M.  Eenan  treats  succes- 
sively of  the  Pagan  and  Christian  Aramean — specimens  of  the 
first  of  which  we  have  in  the  Mendean  and  Nabatean.  This  last 
name  is  equivalent  to  that  of  Chaldee,  and  of  its  important 
literature  Ave  hoav  possess  nothing  but  the  treatise  on  Xabatean 
agriculture,  of  unknoAvn  date,  but  translated  into  Arabic  in  the 
tenth  century.  The  Sabean — or,  more  correctly,  the  language  of 
the  Mendeans — produced  nothing  at  all  so  important  or  practical 
as  the  iMabatean  literature  seems  to  have  possessed.  What  we  do 
possess,  including  the  "  Book  of  Adam,"  a  mass  of  extravagant 
ravings,  seems  posterior  to  Islamism.  M.  Eenan  mentions,  as 
peculiar  features  of  Mendean,  the  confusion  and  frequent  elision  of 
the  gutturals,  the  interchange  of  sharps  and  flats,  and  numerous 
contractions. 

The  Christian  Aramean  is  represented  by  the  Syriac;  Avhich 
shows  nothing  really  national  older  than  the  first  centuries  of  our 
era,  although  it  seems  certain  that  a  literature  of  this  sort  had  been 
developed  at  an  earlier  period.  The  Palmyrene  inscriptions  date 
from  the  first  three  centuries,  and  the  Syriac  Avritings  from  the 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  157 

latter  half  of  the  second  century.  The  "  Peshito  "  version  of  the 
Bihle  is  the  oldest  Syriac  work,  and  is  referred  to  the  second 
century.  Tn  the  fourth  there,  flourished  a  very  important  Christian 
Aramean  literature,  though  strongly  impressed  with  Hellenic 
influences.  It  served  in  a  way  as  an  intermediary  "between  Greek 
and  Arabic  science,  bringing  about  the  transition  from  the  former 
to  the  latter.  Xearly  all  the  Arabic  translations  from  the  Greek, 
says  M.  Kenan,  would  seem  to  have  been  made  by  Syrian  writers  * 
and  on  Syriac  versions.*  Syrian  letters  began  to  decline  about 
the  tenth  century,  when  the  ascendancy  of  Moslem  culture  was 
finally  established,  and  Syriac  sank  to  the  condition  of  a  liturgical 
language.  It  is  now  no  longer  spoken,  except  in  a  very  few  places 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lake  Urumiah ;  and  even  these  last 
vestiges  must  ere  long  disappear  before  the  advance  of  the  Arabic. 
In  our  fifth  paragraph  we  shall  speak  of  the  Samaritan  dialect, 
which,  though  frequently  grouped  with  the  Chaldee  and  .Syriac,  is 
really  more  akin  to  the  Hebrew;  thus  belonging,  not  to  the 
Aramean,  hut  to  the  Canaanitic  group. 

(2)  Assyrian. 

Side  by  side  with  the  Aramean.  the  second  language  of  the 
north-eastern  Semitic  group,  is  that  of  the  third  text  of  the 
cuneiform  cock-inscriptions,  to  which  has  been  given  the  name  of 
Assyrian,  According  to  Oppert  we  might  just  as  well  call  it 
Accadian,  the  name  given  by  Hincks  to  the  still  contested  agglu- 
tinating tongue,  that  Oppert  calls   Suinerian,  and   here  spoken  of 

at  p.  HI. 

The  Assyrian  waa  nut  admitted  withoul  a  long  and  livelj 
struggle  into  the  Semitic  family,  its  right  to  membership  with 
which  can  now  no  longer  be  seriously  called  in  question.  However, 
the  opposition  it  met  writh  bas  been  of  singular  advantage  t<>  the 
studies  connected  with  tie-  Bubject,  and  it  may  be  asserted  that  we 
iv  know  nearly  as  much  of  its  grammar  as  we  are  ever  likely 
to  do.     The  important  writings  of  ttawlinson  definitely  broughl  !■> 

Kenan,  op.  ctfe,  iii.  ch.  8,    2. 


158  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

a  close  the  series  of  works  whose  object  was  to  settle  the  nature 
itself  of  the  Assyrian  language.  The  objections  fell  one  after  the 
other ;  that  first  of  all,  which  consisted  in  denying  its  Semitic 
character,  based  on  the  difference  of  its  alphabet  from  the  ordinary 
Semitic  graphic  system. 

The  various  Assyrian  writings,  whether  Xinevite  or  Babylonian, 
are  composed  of  wedge  (or  clove)  shaped  signs,  of  diverse  length, 
and  differing  in  their  disposition  from  those  of  the  Persian  system, 
which  will  be  described  when  we  come  to  the  Iranian  tongues. 
These  cuneiform  (literally  wedge-shaped)  letters  derive  from  ancient 
hieroglyphics,  whose  forms  may  still  be  easily  recognised  in  some 
of  them.  Though  differing  from  the  Persian,  the  Assyrian  cunei- 
forms are  pretty  much  the  same  as  those  of  the  second  text  of  the 
rock  inscriptions.  Their  common  origin  is  obvious,  and  may  be 
detected  at  the  first  glance.  Their  number  is  considerable,  and 
they  denote  either  ideas  or  sounds.  The  latter — that  is  the  phonetic 
signs — stand  for  full  syllables,  and  for  such  and  such  vowels  or 
consonants — a  fact  pointed  out  by  Hincks  as  far  back  as  1849. 

They  are  easily  transcribed  in  Eoman  letters,  which,  of  course, 
is  not  the  case  with  the  ideographic  signs.  In  fact,  the  phonetic 
value  of  these  can  be  ascertained  only  by  secondary  considerations, 
and  to  meet  the  difficulty  the  ideograms  are  conventionally  trans- 
cribed precisely  as  if  they  were  phonetic,  but  in  Eoman  capitals. 

The  Assyrian  texts  already  collected  and  preserved  in  the 
various  museums  of  Europe  are  very  numerous,  and  it  is  certain 
that  they  will  be  still  greatly  increased.  La  the  country  itself 
there  are  vast  numbers  of  inscribed  monuments,  including  some  of 
considerable  length.  Thus  the  third  text  of  the  inscriptions  of 
the  Achamrenides  is,  as  stated,  in  Assyrian.  The  language  of  the 
second  column  has  already  been  referred  to  at  p.  139,  and  we  shall 
in  its  proper  place  speak  of  the  Persian,  which  is  that  of  the  first 

column. 

Oppert,  who  has  contributed  greatly  to  the  elucidation  of  the 
Assyrian  cuneiforms,*    may   be  justly  considered  the  founder   of 

*  "  Expedition  scientifique  en  Mesopotamia,"  ii.     Paris,  1859. 


Chap,  v.]  THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  159 

Assyrian  grammar,*  Ms  writings  marking  a  new  period  in  Assyriology. 
Other  grammars  have  subsequently  appeared,  and  the  study  of 
Assyrian  no  longer  presents  any  serious  difficulty.t 

We  subjoin  a  few  notes  on  Assyrian  Grammar: 

Its  phonetics  seem  less  changed  than  those  of  the  other  two 
Aramean  dialects,  the  sihdants  especially  having  undergone  hut 
little  modification. 

The  element  at  (at  times  it)  in  Assyrian,  as  in  the  other  Semitic 
tongues,  denotes  the  feminine  gender:  s«r  =  king,  sarrat  =  queen ; 
<7«  =  god,  Hat  or  ilit  =  goddess;  rabu  =  great  (masculine),  rabU  = 
great  (feminine). 

The  masculine  plural  is  /,  answering  to  the  Aramean  in  and 
Hebrew  im  :  yum  =  day,  yumi  =  days.  The  feminine  plural  is  pro- 
perly at  (in  Hebrew  at),  but  also  tit  and  it.  The  dual  occurs  but  rarely. 

The  old  case-endings  have  disappeared,  though  not  without 
leaving  clear  traces  of  their  former  presence.  They  were  urn,  nom., 
a  m  and  vm  for  the  two  other  cases.  According  to  ( )ppert,  this 
"  Humiliation  "  would  seem  to  answer  to  the  "  nunnation,"  to  be 
referred  to  further  on  in  Arabic.  In  course  of  time  the  final  m 
gradually  disappeared,  causing  the  preceding  vowel  itself  to  be 
diversely  affected 

In  Assyrian  there  is  no  article,  but.  as  in  the  other  Semitic 
tongues,  tin'  possessive  pronoun  is  expressed  by  a  suffixed  element: 
bitya  =  my  house  ;  babiya  =  my  gates  ;  sumya  =  my  name  ;  sumiya  = 
my  names.  For  the  second  person  singular  ka  masculine  and/,/ 
feminine:  gumka=thy  name  (speaking  of  a  man);  sumiki=iiky 
names  (speaking  of  a  woman). 

No  trace  of  the  organic  Semitic  perfed  tense  has  been  dis- 
covered, there  being  nothing  but  the  imperfect,  expressing  unfinished 
action,  and  formed  by  the  theme  preceded  bythe  personal  suffixes. 

*  "  Elc'iri«  ■  ammaire  Assyrienne,"  2nd  edition.     Paris,  1868. 

f  ftfenant,  "  E  Elements  de  la  Gran  maire    Lssyrienne,"  Paris, 

L868;  ''I/-    Syllabaire  Assyrian,"    Paris,    L869-74;  "Lecons   d'Epigraphie 

rien  C-,"  Pari  -  1873     Sayoe,  "  An  A     yriav  Grammar,"  London,   ls7_; 

Bohrader,  "Die  -Babyloni  ohen    Keilin  ohriften,"  "Zeitsohr.  dei 

i).  u  iiorgenlandiachen  '■  it,"  xxi.  p.  L.392,  Leipzig,  L672. 


160  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

The  direct  pronominal  object  is  attached  to  the  verb,  as  in  the 
Semitic  system  generally.  Thus  the  phrase,  "  I  have-subdued- 
them,"  is  expressed  in  one  word,  by  adding  the  pronoun  sunut  = 
them,  to  the  form  "  I  have  subdued." 

We  may  remark,  in  conclusion,  that  Assyrian  was  spoken  down 
almost  to  the  Christian  era,  Avhen  it  was  at  length  supplanted  by 
Aramean ;  which,  in  its  turn,  had  to  yield  to  the  spread  of  Arabic. 


§  5. — TIte  Canaanitic  Group. 

The  languages  of  this  group  have  been,  on  the  whole,  much  better 

preserved  than  the  Aramean,  as  is  clearly  shown  by  the  forms  of 

old  or  classic  Hebrew. 

(1)  Hebrew 

Has  passed  through  three  successive  phases,  thus  described  by 
Ewald.*  The  fragments,  dating  from  the  time  of  Moses,  show 
Hebrew  already  formed,  and  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  more 
recent  times.  It  must,  therefore,  even  then  have  been  already  very 
old.  In  the  second  period,  dating  from  the  Kings,  it  shows 
symptoms  of  diverging  into  tAVO  styles,  an  ordinary  and  a  more 
artistic  style.  The  third  period  begins  with  the  seventh  century 
before  our  era  ;  it  is  a  period  of  decay,  during  which  it  is  continually 
encroached  upon  by  the  Aramean  tongues. 

However,  the  differences  are  but  slight  between  each  of  these 
periods.  "  The  important  point,"  says  Eenan,  "  is  to  insist  on  the 
grammatical  unity  of  Hebrew,  on  the  fact  of  the  great  uniformity 
of  records  of  such  diverse  times  and  sources  as  have  entered  into 
the  Jewish  archives.  It  would  doubtless  be  rash  to  assert,  with 
M.  Movers,  that  one  hand  had  retouched  all  the  writings  of  the 
Hebrew  canon,  in  order  to  reduce  them  to  a  uniform  language. 
Still  it  must  be  allowed  that  few  literatures  present  such  an 
impersonal  character,  or  one  so  free  from  the  particular  stamp  of 
any  individual  writer  or  definite  epoch. "f 

* "  Ausfiihrliches  Lehxbuch  cler  Hebraischen  Sprache,"    8th  ed.  p.  23. 
Gottingen,  1870. 
\  Op.  cit.,  ii.  cb.  1. 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  161 

Xot  till  the  eleventh  century  before  our  era  do  we  meet  with  any 
Hebrew  writings  that  have  not  been  subsequently  retouched. 
Three  or  four  centimes  later  on,  the  Hebrew  language  enters  on  its 
golden  age,  and  towards  the  sixth  century  begins  to  disappear  as  a 
national  form  of  speech.  Long  before  the  epoch  of  the  Maccabees 
Aramean  had  assumed  the  ascendant  in  Palestine.  Nevertheless, 
works  continued  to  be  still  written  in  Hebrew,  till  within  about  a 
hundred  years  of  our  era,  Kenan  divides  into  two  distinct  periods 
the  history  of  modern  or  post-biblical  Hebrew.  The  first  extends 
to  the  twelfth  century,  its  principal  monument  being  the  Mishna,  a 
collection  of  Rabbinical  traditions,  or  a  sort  of  second  Bible.  In 
it  occur  a  certain  number  of  Aramean,  as  well  as  some  Greek  and 
Latin  words.  After  having  adopted  Arabic  culture  in  the  tenth 
century,  the  Jews  saw  a  revival  of  their  literature,  when  their 
fellow-countrymen,  banished  from  Mussulman  Spain,  found  a  refuge 
in  the  south  of  France.  The  language  of  this  epoch  is  still  the 
literary  idiom  of  the  Jews. 

Tlie  Hebrew  vowel  system,  like  the  Aramean,  is  of  the  simplest, 
but  the  consonantal,  as  in  all  the  Semitic  family,  is  rich  in  Bibilants 
and  aspirates.  The  sibilants  are  four  in  number,  answering  to  our 
■-■//.  ■--.  ::.  and  ts.  These  letters  play  a  much  more  prominent  part  in 
Hebrew  than  in  the  cognate  tongues.  There  are  also  four  aspirates, 
two  soft  and  two  guttural,  hheth  and  ayin,  which  last  interchange 
tonally  with  /.:  and  q.  Besides  the  three  pairs  of  explosives: 
/.',  ;/ :  /.  d  l  and/',  b,  there  is  a  q,  stronger  (that  is,  uttered  lower 
down  in  tli'  throat)  than  the  simple  7c,  ami  a  ///,  as  transcribed 
by  tome  authors,  stronger  (or  thicker)  than  the  /:  also  a  labial 
explosive  distinct  from  the  //,  and  often  represented  by  an /.  It 
should,    ;  be   observed    that    those   consonants   naturally 

ptible  of  being  aspirated  reallj  are  a  pirated  in  pronunciation 
when  preceded  l>.  a  vowel.  Lastly,  there  are  the  /  and  /',  the 
nasals  i   .iml  ///,  the  semi-vowels  w  and  y. 

In  nouns  lii-  feminine  is  formed,  as  a  rule,  by  adding  the 
element  "/,  Bubjecl  to  certain  modifications,  the  /  sometimes 
changu       i       imple  aspirate,  and  the  a  disappearing  at  others. 

Ma  eulines  form  their  plural,  in  principle,  l>\  the  addition  of  im, 

M 


162  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

occasionally  replaced  by  the  Aramean  in,  and  the  general  feminine 
plural  ending  is  at.  The  Hebrew  dual,  less  general  than  in  Arabic, 
but  better  preserved  than  in  Aramean,  is  formed  by  the  ending  aim. 
The  nominative  is  no  longer  marked  by  any  special  ending. 
Whatever  is  to  be  said  of  the  attempts  made  to  restore  the 
primitive  forms  of  the  Semitic  cases,  there  remain  in  Hebrew  but 
very  doubtful  traces  of  the  old  nominative  suffix ;  and  the  same  is 
true  of  the  accusative  and  genitive. 

Apart  from  the  nominative,  Avhich  is  expressed  by  the  theme 
itself,  the  Hebrew  cases  are  now  indicated  either  by  prepositions  or 
by  what  is  called  the  state  of  the  noun  in  government.  A  noun 
in  this  state,  opposed  to  the  "  noun  absolute,"  assumes  a  really 
dependent  position,  from  which  we  see  that  the  principal  function 
of  this  state  is  to  express  the  idea  of  the  genitive.  In  the  singular 
masculine  nouns  in  this  state  remain  in  principle  unchanged,  imme- 
diately preceding  the  noun  they  govern.  In  the  plural  they  lose, 
in  principle,  their  final  m,  at  times  the  preceding  vowel  also.  It 
has  been  above  stated  that  the  final  t  feminine  is  sometimes 
changed  to  an  aspirate ;  but  in  government  the  organic  t  of  these 
feminine  nouns  remains  in  full  vigour,  while  in  the  plural  they 
retain  the  ending  at.  These,  of  course,  are  but  the  general  laws, 
subject  to  many  exceptions  that  cannot  here  be  noticed.  We  may 
add,  however,  that  the  noun  in  construction  may  be  followed,  not 
only  by  another  noun,  but  also  by  a  pronoun  :  gham-6  =  his  people ; 
ben-i  =  my  son. 

By  employing  prepositions,  as  it  does,  instead  of  case-endings, 
Hebrew  exhibits  so  far  a  perfectly  analytic  character.  It  is,  in 
fact,  incorrect  to  speak  with  grammarians  of  a  dative,  a  locative, 
or  an  ablative,  the  forms  thus  described  being  nothing  but  nouns 
or  pronouns  combined  with  prepositions.  The  more  frequently 
recurring  of  these  prepositions  consist  of  a  single  consonant  only : 
7  =  to,  towards  ;  b  =  in.  The  origin  of  nearly  all  of  these  particles 
is  unknown,  but  they  derive,  in  principle,  from  verbal  roots, 
whereas  the  corresponding  Aryan  prepositions  are  mostly  of  pro- 
nominal origin. 

Inflection  plays  an  important  part  in  the  formation  of  nouns.    It 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD   FORM   OF  SPEECH— INFLECTION.  163 

consists,  as  already  remarked,  in  the  variation  of  the  radical 
vowels. 

Besides  the  prepositions,  Hebrew  possesses  an  article,  closely 
united  to  the  noun,  its  exclusive  function  being  that  of  a  simple 
determinative. 

It  is  diversely  modified  by  euphonic  laws,  but  its  primitive 
form  seems  to  have  been  hal.  The  consonant  I  assimilates  always 
to  the  initial  letter  of  the  following  noun,  and  the  vowel  a  is 
sometimes  lengthened.  Thus,  from  mdqom  =  place,  we  get  ham- 
mdqom  =  the  place.     After  certain  prepositions  the  h  disappears. 

We  have  already  stated  that  the  Semitic  system  has  two  tenses 
only — one  denoting  complete,  the  other  denoting  incomplete  action. 
Hebrew  remains  faithful  to  this  simple  conception.  The  two 
tenses,  as  stated,  are  distinguished  by  the  position  of  the  personal 
suffix,  which  in  the  past  is  placed  after,  and  in  the  imperfect  before 
the  theme. 

Thus  in  zaquanbi  =  I  am  old,  I  have  grown  old,  in  hdldkM  =  I 
have  gone,  we  recognise  perfect  forms;  because  here  the  pro- 
nominal element  ti  is  suffixed.  But  in  ndsub  =  we  will  return, 
the  action  is  not  yet  completed,  because  the  personal  element  is 
prefixed. 

The  verbal  forms  themselves  are  now  five  only,  whereas  we  have 

seen  that  there  were  reckoned  fifteen  in  the  primitive  Semitic  type. 

now  Aramean  possesses  one  more  than  the  Hebrew,  while 

Arabic  is  still  more  wealthy.     The  fire   Eebrew  forms  consist  of 

the  simple  and  four  derivative  ones. 

Until  the  last  few  centuries  of  the  old  era  the  rude  and  angular 
Phoenician  alphabet  was  that  of  the  Jews  also.  It  was  then 
advantageously  replaced  by  the  rounder  and  more  flowing  Chaldean 
letters.  The  old  alphabet  is  still  found  on  the  coins  of  the  epoch 
of  the  Maccabees,  and  on  some  others  apparently  struct  later  on 
during  the  war  with  the  Romans.  Nevertheless, at  the  time  of  the 
Maccabees  the  •  >■  ■  were  already  in  po  ion  of  a  more  recent 
alphabet,  that  continued  in  osi         »ngst  the  Samaritans.* 

'1 1,,-  aew,  or  <  Ihaldean,  alphabet  no  oiore  di  tinguiahed  the  rowels 

*  Olabauscn,  op.  ait.,  p.  •"-. 

u  2 


161  THIED   FORM   OF  SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

than  did  the  old  one.  This  was  a  serious  defect,  which  was 
attempted  to  be  partly  remedied  by  employing  consonants  to 
represent  vowel  sounds  ;  but  the  device,  though  applied  with  some 
judgment,  could  produce  but  partial  and  unsatisfactory  results.  To 
the  Massoretes  is  attributed  the  invention  of  the  vowel  points, 
dating  seemingly  from  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  of  our 
era.  A  certain  number  of  usefid  modifications  was  also  introduced 
in  the  character  of  the  consonants.  Thus,  those  meant  to  be  uttered 
strongly  were  distinguished  from  the  others  by  a  point  (dagesh) 
in  the  body  of  the  letter.  The  sound  of  s  and  sh,  hitherto  repre- 
sented by  the  same  sign,  were  now  distinguished  by  a  diacritical 
point  over  this  sign  to  the  right  or  the  left,  as  the  case  might  be. 
(Thus  ttf  =  s;  #  =  sh). 

A  word  on  Samaritan,  by  some  writers  grouped  with  the  Aramean 
branch.  Others  seem,  more  correctly  to  classify  it  with  the 
Canaanitic  division,  while  still  admitting  that  it  has  been  pro- 
foundly influenced  by  Aramean. 

(2)  Phosnician* 

Very  little  is  known  of  the  races  occupying  Palestine  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Semitic  tribes,  probably  from  the  south-east,  who 
called  themselves  Canaanites.  These  tribes  themselves,  amongst 
which  must  be  included  the  Phoenicians,  were  obliged  to  give  way 
before  the  Beni-Israel,  who,  under  the  leadership  of  Joshua,  over- 
ran the  greater  part  of  Palestine  about  1,300  years  before  our  era. 
The  Canaanites  were  now  driven  westwards  towards  the  coast,  and 
it  may  be  supposed  that  this  event  contributed  greatly  to  develop 
their  relations  with  the  lands  watered  by  the  Mediterranean.     The 

Israelites,  from  whom  civilisation  has  otherwise  suffered  so  much, 

may  have  thus,  though  indirectly,  rendered  it  for  the  nonce  a  most 

important  service. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  question  whether  the  Israelites 

originally  spoke  an  Aramean  dialect,  afterwards  adopting  a  Canaanitic 

*  Schroeder,  "Die  Phcenizische  Sprache."  Halle,  1869.  One  of  the 
best  essays  on  Phoenician,  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  much  of  these 
details.     Penan,  op.  cit.,  ii.  ch.  2. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  165 

form  of  speech.  The  only  fact  we  are  concerned  with  is  the 
present  identity  of  Hebrew  with  Phoenician.  It  may  be  unhesi- 
tatingly asserted  that  there  existed  a  common  Canaanitic  language 
that  in  due  course  gave  birth  to  both  of  these  varieties,  which  are 
sister-tongues  standing  on  the  same  level ;  and  it  is  therefore  in- 
correct to  represent  Phoenician,  as  is  often  done,  as  a  dialect  of  the 
Hebrew.  The  error  dates  from  the  time  when  the  first  attempts 
were  made  to  interpret  the  Phoenician  documents.  Comparative 
grammar  was  still  unknown  at  that  period,  and  the  linguists,  who 
came  across  Phoenician  texts,  naturally  derived  this  language  from 
Hebrew,  which  they  found  it  so  strongly  resembling.  Put  there  is 
now  no  longer  room  for  any  doubt  on  the  subject ;  the  two  idioms, 
as  stated,  are  cognate,  descending  both  in  parallel  lines  from  a 
common  mother-tongue.  Once  severed  from  one  another,  they 
followed  each  its  own  destiny,  "  developing  themselves  independ- 
ently, amongst  peoples  of  different  character  and  manners,  and 
thus  diverging  in  course  of  time,  not  so  much  in  their  grammar,  as 
in  the  general  features  of  their  composition." — (Penan.)  It  has 
justly  been  said  that  their  differences  were  mere  provincial  varieties. 

Amongsi  their  more  marked  differences  is  mentioned  the 
Phoenician  peculiarity  of  employing  in  the  current  speech  a  certain 
number  of  forms  and  expressions  that  in  Hebrew  are  looked  on  as 
archaic,  occurring  in  the  more  lofty  style  only.  Many  Phoenician 
terms  have  a  different  meaning  from  the  corresponding  Hebrew 
words,  being  sometimes  taken  in  a  wider,  sometimes  in  a  narrower, 
On  the  "the]-  hand,  i'lui'iiician  possesses  a  relative  pro- 
nominal form  more  primitive  than  the  Hebrew  form,  and  is 
otherwise  distinguished  by  some  further  peculiarities,  now  well 
enough  understood,  bul  which  need  not  he  here  dwelt  upon. 

Phoenician,  as  it  appears  in  its  inscriptions,  which  are  not  of 
verj  greal  antiquity,  betrays  important  mark  of  Arameaii  elements, 
more,  perhaps,  than  Hebrew  does.  The  Phoenician  of  the  colonies 
jettled  "a  tli'-  north  coast  of  Africa  also  shows  these  same  Aramaic 
traces;  though  tie-  fart  is  not  surprising,  when  we  consider  the 
me  antiquity  of  Aramean  influences,  ami  the  constant  relations 
maintained  by  the  African  settlements  with  tic  mother-country. 


166  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

Punic,  or  African  Phoenician,  which  was  of  course  the  language 
of  the  Carthaginians,  is  very  clearly  divided  into  two  dialects— an 
ancient  and  a  more  recent ;  the  first  "being  identical  with  the 
Phoenician  of  Palestine.  Xeo-Pivnic  is  more  corrupt,  and  its 
orthography  often  very  defective.  Its  chief  monuments  are  met 
with  in  Tunis  and  Eastern  Algeria.  The  neo-Punic  alphabet 
differs  materially  from  the  old  Phoenician,  of  which,  however,  it  is 
but  a  variety.  Its  letters  have  been  generally  simplified,  some  of 
them  being  reduced  to  a  single  stroke,  and  being  often  almost 
confused  with  each  other.* 

Of  Phoenician  literature  there  survive  only  a  few  fragments  of 
Sanchoniathon's  Phoenician  history,  and  the  "  Periplous  of  Hanno,'* 
translated  into  Greek ;  further,  some  words  occurring  in  the  classics, 
a  passage  in  Plautus,  and  a  series  of  coins  and  inscriptions.  These 
last  monuments  have  been  mostly  discovered  on  various  points 
along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  at  Marseilles,  in  Spain,  on 
the  north  coast  of  Africa,  and  in  the  islands  of  Cyprus,  Sardinia, 
and  Malta— Phoenicia  itself  so  far  supplying  but  a  limited  number 
of  inscriptions. 

Phoenician  disappeared  from  Palestine  even  before  Punic  had 
been,  like  it,  absorbed  by  more  fortunate  tongues.  We  may  believe, 
with  Penan,  that  Punic  was  spoken  down  to  the  Mohammedan 
invasion,  and  that  the  ease  with  which  Arabic  spread  over  certain 
regions  of  northern  Africa,  was  precisely  due  to  this  persistence  of 
the  Semitic  Phoenician,  from  which  Arabic  itself  did  not  greatly 
differ,  although  belonging  to  another  branch  of  the  family. 

§  6.— The  Arabic  Group. 

It  is  only  for  want  of  a  better  term  that  the  name  of  Arabic  is 
given  to  the  southern  branch  of  the  Semitic  tongues.  The  word  is, 
properly  speaking,  applicable  only  to  the  Ishmaelitic,  which  is  but 
one  of  the  two  sub-divisions  of  the  Arabic  group.  The  Himyaritic, 
Gheez,  and  other  Semitic  idioms  of  southern  Arabia  (and  Abys- 

Judas,  "Etude  demonstrative  de  la  Langue  Phenicienne  et  de  la  Langue 
Libyque,"  Pax-is,  1817;  also  by  the  same  writer,  "Nouvelles  Etudes  sur  une 
Serie  descriptions  Numidico-Puniques,"  Paris,  1857. 


Chap,  v.]  THIKD   FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  167 

sinia)  were  not  known  for  a  long  time  after  the  Arabic,  and  it  was 
in  consequence  of  their  close  affinity  to  this  language  that  the 
generic  term  of  Arabic  came  to  be  somewhat  incorrectly  extended 
to  them  also. 

(1)  Arabic. 

The  astonishing  stability  peculiar  to  the  Semitic  idioms  is 
nowhere  more  conspicuous  than  in  the  Arabic,  nor  is  there  any- 
thing more  singular,  not  to  say  strange,  than  the  almost  absolute 
uniformity  of  this  language,  throughout  the  ages  it  has  lasted  and 
the  vast  domain  it  has  occupied. 

Since  the  epoch  of  Mohammed  (end  of  sixth  and  beginning  of 
seventh  century),  and  even  in  the  poems  anterior  to  Islamism, 
Arabic  appears  such  as  the  literary  language  is  at  the  present  day, 
that  is,  in  full  possession  of  all  its  forms,  of  its  copious  vocabulary, 
and,  one  might  say,  perfect  as  ever. 

The  original  form  of  the  Koran  was  that  of  a  sort  of  narrative 
composition.  According  to  Kenan's  expression,  it  is,  so  to  say,  a 
collection  of  Mohammed's  "  orders  of  the  day."  It  was  not  entirely 
composed  in  the  lifetime  of  the  Prophet,  certain  portions  being 
subsequent  to  his  death.  In  any  case  his  followers  scraped  together 
all  the  shreds  and  fragments  of  his  utterances,  forming  of  them  a 
sort  of  typical  or  standard  work,  the  copies  of  which  were,  in  their 
turn,  revised  by  the  Caliph  Othman,  in  the  middle  <»f  the  seventh 
century  (644-656).  The  preponderance  of  the  Koreish  dialect, 
spoken  in  the  heart  of  Arabia,  was  thus  definitely  established.  The 
style  of  the  Koran  itself  is  of  two  kind-,  the  first  a  sort  of  poetic 

1 1  <  1  rhythmical. 

The  older  poems,  above  referred  to,  were  certainly  not  much 
anterior  to  [slamism,  and  the  language  of  the  Mollakats,  referred  to 
the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  is  pure  literary  Arabic,  nol  an 
ancient  or  older  form  of  the  langu 

The  Semites  of  central  Arabia  were  unacquainted  with  the  art  of 
writing,  properly  so-called,  previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  sixth 
century.  From  the  first  very  defective,  and  Leading  to  the  con 
fusion  of   certain  consonants  represented  by    one   and   the  same 


168  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

character,  the  Arabic  alphabet  was  reformed  at  an  early  date,  in 
fact,  during  the  first  century  of  the  hegira,  as  is  supposed,  though 
the  reform  was  not  accomplished  all  at  once.  It  was  effected 
gradually,  reducing  the  alphabet  to  its  present  form,  with  its  vowel 
points  and  with  certain  diacritical  marks,  distinguishing  several 
of  the  characters  whose  primitive  form  was  the  same.  (Thus  : 
C=M;  £  =  lth;  £=/.) 

Xot  without  good  reason  has  Arabic  been  called  the  Sanskrit  of 
the  Semitic  race.  In  truth  it  plays  the  same  part  amongst  its  cognate 
tongues  that  Sanskrit  does  amongst  the  Aryan  languages,  regard 
being  always  had  to  the  far  more  intimate  resemblance  of  the 
Semitic  idioms  to  each  other. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  Arabic  has  retained  the  three 
cases  of  the  primitive  Semitic  tongue — the  nominative,  accusative, 
and  genitive — faint  traces  only  of  which  are  to  be  detected  in  the 
northern  groups.  These  cases  are  formed,  as  already  stated,  by  the 
three  A-owels,  u,  i,  a,  with  which  the  word  ends  when  preceded  by 
the  article ;  but  when  this  is  not  the  case,  they  are  followed  by  a 
nasal. 

Thus  the  noun  ends  in  un,  an,  in,  as  the  case  may  be,  when 
unaccompanied  by  the  article,  but  in  u,  nominative ;  a,  accusative ; 
and  i,  genitive,  when  joined  with  the  article.  The  state  of  govern- 
ment exists  in  Arabic  as  well  as  in  Hebrew. 

Number  is  denoted  in  two  ways.  One  is  the  usual  Semitic  pro- 
cess, una  for  the  nominative,  and  via  for  the  oblicpie  case  mascu- 
line ;  dton  and  dtin  for  the  corresponding  feminine,  with  which 
compare  the  Aramean  in  and  6t,  and  the  Hebrew  im,  ut.  This 
plural  form  is  called  sound,  'perfect,  external,  or  regular. 

The  second  process  is  described  as  broken,  imperfect,  internal, 
irregular.  Here  plurality  is  expressed  by  a  modification  of  the 
root :  "  Frangiiur  forma  singularis  rel  mutata  una  alterave  vocalium, 
re!  aliqua  literarum  transposita  ant  abjecta,vel  novaliterainserta."* 

*  Zschokke,  "  Institutiones  Fundament.  Ling.  Ax.,"  Vienna,  1869 ;  H. 
Derenbourg,  "  Essai  sur  les  Formes  de  Pluriels  en  Arabe,"  "  Journal  A.sia- 
tique,"  1867  ;  S.  Guyard,  "  Nouvel  Essai  sur  la  Formation  du  Pluriel  Brise  en 
Arabe,"  Paris,  1870. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF  SPEECH— INFLECTION.  169 

At  times  the  body  of  the  word  is  lengthened,  and  a  prefixed  :  tlfl  = 
child,  atfal  =  children.  Other  processes  may  he  seen  in  special 
works  on  the  subject.* 

The  dual  endings  are  dni  nominative,  aini  oblique:  yadani  =  the 
two  hands. 

Arabic  retains  the  two  organic  Semitic  tenses,  the  present  being 
expressed  sometimes  by  one  and  sometimes  by  the  other.  Thus  the 
perfect  is  used  if  the  present  action  has  already  been  previously 
accomplished,  and  if  it  is  a  continued  action,  as  in  the  formula  : 
tique.  But  the  other  tense  is  used,  if  the  present 
action  is  connected  with  some  other  action  presently  to  be  spoken 
of.     The  future  is  treated  in  the  same  way. 

Both  tenses  are  formed  as  in  the  other  Semitic  tongues.  The 
personal  element  is  prefixed  to  express  imperfect,  and  suffixed  to 
express  perfect  action. 

It  may  he  added  that  of  the  fifteen  primitive  forms,  Arabic  has 
retained  nine,  which  is  considerably  more  than  the  Hebrew. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  look  on  vulgar  Arabic  as  anything  more 
than  the  literary  language  simplified  The  main  difference  between 
the  two  is,  that  the  vernacular  lias  allowed  the  cases  to  drop  out  of 
current  use,  thus  arriving  at  a  state  of  analysis  analogous  to  the 
Aramean  and  Hebrew.  It  has  also  entirely  lost  the  process  of  the 
noun  in  government.  In  any  ease,  as  Renan  observes,t  a  number 
of  facts  show  that  the  main  features  of  the  literary  language 
existed  also  in  the  ancient  Arabic  tongue.  Thus,  the  inflections 
liar  to  the  former  are  absolutely  uecessary  to  explain  the 
metrical  system  of  the  old  poetry.  It  is  even  supposed  that  certain 
tribes  of  central  Arabia  still  retain  in  ordinary  speech  the  inflections 
peculiar  to  the  written  form,}  and  which  would  elsewhere  seem 
pretentious  and  pedantic. 

In  ill'-  literary  stylethere  can  be  no  question  of  dialects.     It  is 

a  l;m  :     e   EOT  all,  ami   which    musl   'lie  out  BUCh  as  it    is, 

without  leaving  any  varieties   behind  it.     but  the  same  cannol  l>e 

*  Derenbonrg,  "  Note  Bnx  la  Grammaire  Axabe,"  premiere  partie,  The*orie 

<Ies  Foi  i..'   .     I 

f  "p.  ,-,'.,  iv.  cli.   'I.  X    lljid- 


170  THIRD   FORM   OF  SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

said  of  the  spoken  tongue,  which,  however  little  differing  from  the 
other,  differs  from  it  precisely  "by  one  of  those  changes  that  con- 
stitute the  very  life  of  so  many  languages — that  is,  the  transition 
from  the  synthetic  to  the  analytic  state.  "Vulgar  Arabic  grows, 
no  doubt,  very  slowly,  but  still  it  grows;  whence  its  present 
dialectic  varieties,  which  are  mainly  four,  those  of  Barbary,  Arabia, 
Syria,  and  Egypt.  The  last  three  are  allowed  to  differ  but  slightly, 
each  possessing  a  number  of  local  terms  and  peculiar  expressions, 
but  the  divergence  goes  no  farther.  The  Barbary  dialect  presents 
some  grammatical  differences,  though  not  serious  enough  to  prevent 
it  from  being  readily  understood  throughout  the  whole  domain 
occupied  by  the  Arabic  language. 

Maltese  is  of  Arabic  origin,  but  is  now  nothing  but  a  rude  jargon 
full  of  real  barbarisms  and  foreign  elements.  The  same  was  the 
case  with  the  Mosarabic  of  the  south  of  Spain,  which  seems  not  to 
have  quite  died  out  till  the  last  century.  * 

Arabic  has  supplied  a  large  number  of  words  to  certain  European 
and  Asiatic  languages.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  Iranian 
idioms,  including  the  present  Persian,  of  the  Turkish,  and  of  some 
modern  Indian  dialects,  which  swarm  with  Arabic  words.  Amongst 
the  neo-Latin  tongues  Spanish  and  Portuguese  have  borrowed  both 
directly  and  indirectly  from  it,  and  amongst  the  Arabic  words  in 
English  and  French  may  be  mentioned  the  following :  cotton, 
zero,  cipher,  algebra,  crimson,  magazine,  nadir,  chemistry,  &c. 
(See  Translator's  "English  Language,"  p.  164.) 

(2)  Languages  of  South  Arabia  and  Abyssinia. 

The  second  branch  of  the  Arabic  group,  known  also  as  the 
"Yoktanide,"  is  composed  of  two  branches,  which  it  took  some 
time  to  classify  not  merely  with  the  Arabic,  but  even  with  the 
Semitic  at  all.  It  occupies  on  the  east  the  south  of  Arabia,  and 
on  the  west  at  least  a  portion  of  Abyssinia. 

The  primitive  Semitic  language  of  the  south  of  Arabia  was  the 
Himyaritic,  now  known  by  a  large  number  of  inscriptions.  It 
possesses,  like  the  Arabic,  the  peculiar  form  of  "  broken,"  plurals 
*  Renan,  op.  cit. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  171 

already  spoken  of.  Its  alphabet  has  given  occasion  to  some 
interesting  researches.  It  is  now  known  to  derive  from  the  primitive 
Semitic  writing,  from  which,  as  we  have  seen,  have  also  sprung  the 
Chaldean,  Arabic,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  Semitic  alphabets  except  the 
Assyrian  cuneiforms. 

The  Mohammedan  conquest  overthrew  the  Himyaritic  civilisa- 
tion, and  Arabic  spread  gradually  throughout  the  south  of  the 
peninsula,  as  far  as  the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Gulf  of 
Aden.  Still  the  Himyaritic  language  did  not  perish  without 
leaving  some  traces  behind.  In  the  extreme  south  of  Arabia,  and 
more  particularly  in  the  Mahrah  district,  about  50°  long,  and 
20°  lat,  some  forty  years  ago  there  was  discovered  the  EhTrili 
language,  which,  if  not  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  old  Himyaritic, 
is  at  least  closely  allied  to  it. 

From  a  very  remote  period  the  Semites  of  South  Arabia  had 
known  and  colonised  the  south-west  coast  of  the  Eed  Sea.  Many 
r  aturies  before  our  era,  though  at  what  particular  date  it  is  now 
impossible  to  say,  they  brought  thither,  together  with  their  civili- 
sation, the  language  known  as  the  Gheez,  sometimes  also  called  by 
the  vague  and  misleading  name  of  Ethiopian,  whose  forms  arc 
intimately  related  to  those  of  the  Himyaritic.  The  Gheez  is  now 
no  longer  spoken,  and  exists  only  as  a  learned  and  liturgical  language. 
Christianity  is  known  to  have  spread  over  Ethiopia  towards  the 
fourth  century,  to  which  period  must  also  in  all  probability  be 
referred  the  Gheez  version  of  the  Bible,  besides  which,  Ethiopian 
literature  is  enriched  by  translations  of  a  number  of  Jewish, 
Christian,  Greek,  and  Arabic  works.  With  the  arrival  of  the 
,;<  in  Abyssinia  sel  in  the  period  of  decay.  Those  formidable 
apostles,  whom  the  Abyssinians  got  rid  of  only  too  late,  "by 
attracting  to  themselves  all  the  instruction  and  opposing  the  native 
teaching,  left  the  country  in  a  state  of  profound  barbariflin,  from 
which  it  has  not  yet  recovered."  * 

Gheez  was  a  highly-developed  language,  po  easing,  like  the 
Arabic,  the  "broken "  plurals,  and  retaining  certain  endings  thai 
Hebrew  and  Aramean  have  lost.     Of  the  fifteen  primitive  forms  of 

*  Jtuimn,  op.  'It.,  iv.  OB.   '• 


172  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

the  Semitic  verb  it  preserved  thirteen  (Fr.  Miiller,  op.  cit,  p.  529), 
that  is,  far  more  than  any  of  the  cognate  tongnes.  The  Gheez 
alphabet,  though  written  from  left  to  right,  and  not  from  right  to 
left,  like  the  other  Semitic  alphabets,  is  now  known  to  have  derived 
from  the  same  source  as  the  Himyaritic. 

Besides  the  Gheez,  which,  as  stated,  is  now  a  dead  language, 
there  are  still  spoken  in  Abyssinia  a  number  of  Semitic  idioms 
belonging  to  the  same  group,  and  which,  if  they  do  not  derive 
directly  from  it,  are  at  least  closely  related  to  Gheez.  Of  these 
there  are  three  leading  languages :  the  Amharic,  in  the  south-west 
of  Abyssinia ;  the  Tigre,  in  the  north ;  and  the  Harari,  hi  the 
south-east,  at  about  40°  long,  and  10°  lat.  These  have,  perhaps, 
been  grafted  on  to  older  languages  belonging  to  other  families, 
but  their  grammar  is  uncpiestionably  Semitic,  so  that  they  must 
necessarily  be  grouped  with  the  Gheez.* 

§  7. — Individuality  of  the  Semitic  Idioms. 

Their  Primeval  Home. 

Much  greater  pains  have  been,  and  stdl  are,  taken  to  find  a 
common  link  between  the  Aryan  and  the  Semitic  families,  than  to 
compare  the  various  numbers  of  this  last  group  together,  and  thus 
restore,  at  least  in  its  general  outlines,  the  common  mother-tongue 
of  all  the  Semitic  languages.  It  may  be  presumed  that,  considering 
the  slight  differences  that  exist  between  them,  this  task  may,  in  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge,  not  prove  too  formidable.  In  any 
case  it  must  prove  far  less  so  than  the  analogous  undertaking  on 
behalf  of  the  Aryan  tongues,  which  has  so  far  been  attended  with 
so  little  success. 

It  need  scarcely  be  observed  that  the  writers  who  have  been 
most  zealous  in  their  endeavours  to  compare  the  Semitic  with  the 
Aryan  group  have  never  thought  of  the  obvious  objection,  that  they 
should  not  compare  Hebrew  or  Arabic  with  Zend,  Sanskrit,  or 
Greek,  but  rather  the  common  Semitic  with  the  common  Aryan 
mother-tongue.      All  the  points  of  resemblance  they  have  sought 

*  Fr.  Miiller,  "  Uebor  die  Harari- Spraclie  im  ostlichen  Africa."  Vienna,  1864. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD    FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  173 

to  establish  may  be  said  always  to  rely  on  etymologies,  and  never 
on  grammar  :  and  this  alone  at  once  and  hopelessly  condemns  them. 
Etymology,  as  shown  in  our  first  chapter,  is  in  no  sense  a  science. 
By  means  of  it  we  might  easily  derive  the  most  irreconcilable 
languages  one  from  the  other— not  only  Basque  from  Irish,  Etruscan 
from  Tibetan,  but  even  Hebrew  from  Sanskrit,  or  Sanskrit  from 
Hebrew,  ai  pleasure.  It  is  grammar,  as  Benan  has  well  said,  that 
constitutes  the  individuality  of  a  language ;  hence  "  the  attempt 
must  be  abandoned  to  establish  a  connecting  link  between  the 
Aryan  and  Semitic  grammatical  systems,  which  are  two  distinct 
creations,  absolutely  separated  from  each  other." — [Op.  fit.,  v.  ch.  2.) 
When  speaking  of  inflection  in  general  (p.  147),  we  remarked 
upon  the  deep  and  radical  difference  that  existed  between  the 
Semitic  and  Aryan  grammar.  Here  it  will  be  enough  to  repeat 
that  the  pretended  relations  sought  to  be  established  between 
them  are  reduced  to  some  futile  etymologies,  lacking  all  scientist- 
character.  All  such  facts,  past,  present,  and  future,  would  be  at 
once  outweighed  by  one  single  argument  drawn  from  the  formation 
of  the  words  themselves. 

Two    principal     causes    seem   to   have    been    at    the    bottom    of 

the   unscientific  conception  of  the  common  origin  of   the   Aryan 

and  Semitic  tongues.     The  first  of  these  lies  in  the  nationality,  or 

t  in  the  race  itself,   of  a   certain  class  of    writers  that  have 

upheld  this  opinion.      Without  quoting  names,  the  fact  is  known 

well  enough  that  a  great   many  of  them   are  .lews;    which  will 

accouni  for  much  of  the  spirit  pervading  their  writings.    The  second 

lies  in  the  biblical,  <>'.■  clerical  feeling,  the  spirit  of  infatuation 

and  medieval  darkness,  which  sees  nothing  true  excepl  in  theology, 

and  which  begins  by  denouncing  free  ami  secular  inquiry,  while 

ready  at  the  last  moment  to  turn   round  and  cry  out  that  all 

knowledge  proceeds  from  it,  and  from   it   alone.      Hut  with  this 

::■[  cause  we  need  not  trouble  ourselves,  for  discussion  is  out  of 

place  with  people  who  proclaim   themselves   inspired    ami   above 

[i.     The   motive,  however,  is  easily   understood  that  induces 

Eoly  Writ  to  attribute  to  all  the  languages  of 

the  universe  one  commo]  ,  and  more  particularly  to 


174  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

them  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  assumed  speech  of  the  father 
of  the  Jewish  race.  But,  as  Scripture  itself  says,  we  must  let  the 
dead  bury  then  dead. 

It  is  difficult  to  pronounce  dogmatically  on  the  question  of  the 
region  in  which  was  spoken  the  common  mother-tongue  of  all 
the  Semitic  idioms.  The  Arameans  and  Canaanites  are  generally 
allowed  to  have  entered  Palestine  from  the  south-east,  hut  it  Avould, 
perhaps,  he  wise  to  venture  on  nothing  further.  Some  more  daring 
writers  assume  that  this  common  speech — whence  sprang  the 
Aramean,  Canaanite,  and  Arabic — was  spoken  in  the  north  of 
Arabia,  or,  perhaps,  in  central  Arabia.  The  fact,  of  course,  is 
possible,  but  so  far  utterly  unsupported  by  any  sort  of  positive 
proof.* 

Questions  of  this  sort  must  always  remain  obscure,  nor  can  they 
be  solved  by  philology  alone  without  the  aid  of  anthropology  and 
archeology. 

(B)  TJie  Hamitic  Languages. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  expression  Hamitic  is  quite  as 
defective  as  Semitic.  But  it  seems  now  consecrated  by  use,  and 
we  have  been  fain  to  adopt  it  for  lack  of  a  better.  The  term 
"Libyan"  has  indeed  been  proposed,  but  it  says  too  little,  and  is 
applicable  to  one  division  only  of  the  Hamitic  family. 

However  probable  in  itself,  it  is  difficult  to  assert  positively  that 
the  Hamitic  tongues,  spread  over  most  of  Egypt  and  along  the 
southern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  did  at  any  time  occupy  the 
regions  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  thence  making  then  way 
through  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Arabia  Petrsea  into  Africa, 

Still  less,  if  possible,  is  known  as  to  the  country  in  which  the 
Hamitic  broke  away  from  the  Semitic  family.  All  that  can  be 
said  on  the  subject  is  that  the  separation  must  have  taken  place  at 
a  very  remote  epoch.  The  stability  of  the  Semitic  idioms  in  their 
old  forms  throughout  the  historic  period  speaks  at  once  for  the 

*  The  whole  question  has  been  fully  discussed  by  Schrader  in  "  Die 
Abstammung  der  Chaldaer  nnd  die  Ursitze  der  Semiten,"  "  Zeitschr.  der 
Deutschen  Morgenland.  Gesellschaft,"  xxxvii.     Leipzig,  1873. 


Chap. v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  175 

treat  antiquity  of  the  time  when  Semitic  and  Hamitic  were  yet  to 
be,  hut  when  a  now  forever  lost  language  did  exist,  whence  both 
would  some  day  spring. 

In  his  "AUgemeine  Ethnographic"  (p.  445)  Fr.  Muller  well 
describes  the  relations  that  existed  between  the  two.  Their  affinity, 
he  justly  remarks,  is  rather  in  the  identity  of  the  organism  than 
in  the  coincidence  of  fully-developed  forms.  The  two  families 
must  have  separated  at  a  time  when  their  common  mother-tongue 
was  still  in  a  very  backward  state  of  development.  Moreover,  the 
Hamitic  group  seems  at  a  very  early  date  to  have  split  into  two 
branches,  the  various  idioms  of  which  are  far  less  allied  to  each 
other  than  is  the  case  with  the  different  members  of  the.  Semitic 
group. 

The  pronominal  system  of  the  two  families  has  been  mainly 
instrumental  in  establishing  their  affinity,  the  roots  of  their  pro- 
nouns and  the  process  of  forming  the  plural  by  means  of  an  ending 
being  identical  in  both ;  *  a  fact  which  has  now  been  thoroughly 
ascertained. 

In  the  philological  section  of  "The  Voyage  of  the  Novara  round 
the  World  "  (Vienna,  1867),  Fr.  Midler  has  essayed  to  draw  a  some- 
what summary  outline  of  the  general  Hamitic  grammar.  In  the 
nouns  tin-  feminine  is  characterised  by  the  element  ti,  i ;  the  plural 
si<m  is,  in  principle,  an,  sometimes  "/,  and  occasionally  /',  which 
may  be  merely  a  secondary  form  of  mi.  There  is  in  this  group 
no  trace  of  nominal  inflection  properly  so  called,  its  place  being 
supplied  by  particles  placed  either  before  or  after  the  noun,  to 
express  the  usual  relations  of  the  noun  t<»  the  rest  of  the  phrase. 
Verbal  forms  are,  numerous,  as  in  tie'  Semitic  group,  and  the 

.  elementary,  as  will  presently  he  Been. 
The  three  Eamitic  groups,  as   stated,  are:    the  Egyptian,  the 
Libyan,  and  the  Ethiopian.     And  first — 

§  1. — The  Egyptian  <irunj>. 

I'  :,  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  that  the  ancient 

■  Kaspero,  ■■!>■■-  Pronomi  Personnels  en   B  yptaen  et  <Ian.s  tee  Lai 
Semitiquen. :i      Paris,  1-7.'. 


176  THIRD   FORM    OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

Egyptian  hieroglyphics  were  again  deciphered,  after  having  remained 
a  dead  letter  for  many  hundreds  of  years.  Their  interpretation  has 
shed  a  lustre  on  the  name  of  Champollion,  who,  if  not  the  only 
expounder  of  these  precious  texts  (having,  in  fact,  been  anticipated 
by  Young),  has  undoubtedly  dune  more  than  any  other  for  their 
rapid  elucidation. 

Here  let  us  premise  a  few  words  on  the  nature  of  these  hiero- 
glyphics.* 

The  number  of  these  characters  is  considerable,  some  being 
phonetic,  others  figurative.  The  phonetic  signs  are  easily  tran- 
scribed in  Roman  letters,  though  the  Egyptians  themselves  often 
wrote  the  consonants  only,  omitting  the  vowels  of  the  word.  Still 
these  may  generally  be  easily  restored,  either  from  the  context  or 
by  comparing  the  word  in  question  with  the  word  answering  to  it 
in  the  Coptic  language,  of  which  we  shall  have  presently  to  speak. 
Let  us  add  that  the  phonetic  signs  may  be  either  simply  alphabetical 
— that  is,  expressing,  for  instance,  one  consonant  only — or  else 
syllabic — that  is,  denoting  a  full  syllable.  But  in  either  case  their 
transcription  is,  of  course,  equally  easy. 

The  figurative  signs  are  true  images,  or  pictures,  and  are  placed 
at  the  end  of  words  written  in  phonetic  letters,  their  object  being 
to  determine  more  precisely  the  sense  of  these  words.  At  times, 
however,  the  text  contains  none  but  figurative  characters,  and  then 
they  present  a  serious  difficulty  to  the  reader,  who,  in  such  cases, 
must  have  recourse  to  any  possible  duplicates  of  such  texts. 

In  Egyptian  there  are  two  genders,  the  masculine  and  the 
feminine,  the  latter  being  denoted  by  the  characteristic  suffix  t. 
Thus  son  =  brother ;  sont  =  sister.  Observe,  however,  that  this  t 
may  also  be  placed  before  the  noun. 

The  dual  endings  are:  ui  masculine,  ti  f  eminine ;  sonui  =  two 
brothers. 

The  plural  is  a  for  both  genders:  sonu  =  brothers,  tefu  =  fathers, 
from  son  and  tef. 

Of  declension  properly  so-called  there  is  no  trace. 

The  article  is  occasionally  used,  especially  in  the   more  recent 

*  Brugsch,  "  Grarnmaire  Hk'roglypliique."     Leipzig,  1872. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION".  177 

language.  It  is  pa  or  pe  for  the  singular  masculine,  ta  or  te  for  the 
feminine.    Thus  nuter  =  god ;  nidert  =  goddess  ;  pa  nuter  =  the  god ; 

A<  ivdert  =  the  goddess.  In  the  plural  »a  or  «e  for  both  genders: 
ua  nuteru  =the  gods. 

The  adjective,  as  a  rule,  immediately  follows  its  noun,  agreeing 
•with  it  in  gender  and  number  :  sat  urt  =  elder  daughter  ;  dmu  urn  = 
great  masters,  where  in  the  first  example  t  marks  the  feminine 
singular,  in  the  second  //  denotes  the  plural. 

The  subject  is  placed  sometimes  before  the  verb,  but  the  usual 
order  is — verb,  subject,  direct  object,  indirect  object,  adverb. 

In  the  verbal  forms  the  personal  element  is  suffixed  : 

Uonk  =  thou  art  (masculine). 
Uont  =  thou  art  (feminine). 
Uonf  =  he  is. 
Uons  =  she  is. 
Uonten  =  you  are. 
Uonu  =  they  are. 

At  the  opening  of  this  paragraph  we  spoke  of  the  hieroglyphic 
writing  only.  But  it  will  be  easily  imagined  that  this  system 
must  have  been  simplified  in  course  of  time,  becoming  considerably 
modified  in  order  to  adapt  itself  to  the  wants  of  every-day  life. 
Thus  arose  the  two  cursive  writing  systems  known  as  the  hieratic 
and  demotic.  In  his  second  book  Herodotus  speaks  of  the  twofold 
Egyptian  writing  -the  sacred  and  the  popular.  The  hieratic, 
running  from  right  to  left,  is  merely  a  cursive  and  often  much 
shortened  form  of  the  old  hieroglyphics.  It  is  seldom  tnel  with 
on  the  granite  monuments,  and  occurs  mostly  on  the  papyrus 
documents.  It  was  the  learned  and  religious  writing,  of  which  the 
demotic  itself  was  in  its  turn  a  more  curtailed  form,  though  still 
containing  a  number  of  real  ideographic  signs.  This  was  tin-  popular 
style,  employed  in  transcribing  the  language  in  current  use,*  a 
which  helps  i..  explain  many  differences  between  tin'  old 
Egypl ian  and  the  <  Jopl ic. 

Ca/j/ir  derives  directly  from  the  ancienl    Egyptian,  its  litei 
period  extending  from  the  second  to  the  seventh  century  of  our 

*  Brugach,  " Qrammaire  D&notique."     Berlin,  In5.">. 


178  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

era.  It  is  a  purely  Christian,  though  somewhat  copious,  literature, 
brought  to  a  sudden  close  by  Islamism,  which  ruined  the  Coptic 
language,  supplanting  it  by  the  Arabic  wherever  it  was  still 
vernacular.  It  continued,  however,  for  some  time  to  eke  out  a 
precarious  existence  in  some  few  monasteries,  but  is  now  quite 
extinct. 

Coptic  phonology  was  richer  than  the  old  Egyptian,  though  its 
grammar  did  not  greatly  differ  from  it.  Any  one  familiar  with 
Coptic  may  easily  leam  Egyptian,  or  vice  versa,  though  the  Coptic 
vocabulary  includes  rather  a  large  number  of  Greek  words.  As 
in  Egyptian,  Coptic  marks  the  feminine  by  prefixing  t  to  the  noun ; 
and  we  have  seen  that  the  old  language  cordd  use  this  element  as  a 
prefix  as  well  as  a  suffix.  The  plural  sign  is  u,  also  as  in  Egyptian  ; 
but  there  is  a  second  form,  i,  which  may  combine  with  the  first : 
sbd  —  teaching  ;  sbuui  =  teachings.  Of  cases  there  are  no  traces, 
their  want  being  sxipplied  by  prepositions. 

The  Coptic  verb  possesses  the  twofold  formation  of  prefixes  and 
suffixes,  which  may  easily  be  compared  with  the  double  Semitic 
formation  above  spoken  of.  But  to  the  two  Coptic  forms  no 
special  value  can  be  attributed,  such  as  can  be  to  the  Semitic* 
Thus  the  masculine  pronoun  k  =  thou,  is  sometimes  prefixed  to  the 
verbal  theme,  and  sometimes  suffixed,  without  any  apparent 
difference  of  meaning.  The  different  tenses,  past,  future,  &c.,  are 
distinguished  by  means  of  auxiliary  verbs  placed  before  the  verbal 
theme. 

The  Coptic  alphabet  is  nothing  but  the  Greek,  written  somewhat 
in  a  fuller  and  rounder  form,  and  occasionally  slightly  inclined 
backwards  to  the  left.  To  this  alphabet,  however,  have  been 
added  some  characters  to  denote  sounds  peculiar  to  the  Coptic,  and 
uidcnown  to  the  Greek,  such  as  the  sh  of  she. 

In  Coptic  there  are  distinguished  three  dialects — the  Memphitic, 
which  possessed  the  aspirates  Jilt,  fh,ph;  the  Theban  in  the  south, 
and  a  northern  dialect. 

*  Fr.  iliiller,  "  Reise  der  Oesterr.  Fregatte  Novara,' Linguistischer  Theil,'' 
p.  63.     Vienna,  1867. 


Chap,  t.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  179 

§  2. — Tlie  Libyan  Gfroup. 

The  ancient  Libya  occupied  the  north  of  Africa  west  of  Egypt, 
and  it  was  in  this  region  that  the  Punic,  or  Phoenician  of  Africa, 
found  a  home.  The  grammar  of  the  ancient  Libyan  has  not  yet 
been  compiled,  but  it  is  beginning  to  be  known  through  its  inscrip- 
tions. Of  these,  General  Faidherbe  has  recently  published  an 
important  collection,  about  200  altogether,  including  several 
bilingual  ones,  one  accompanied  by  a  Phoenician  text,  and  others 
by  a  Latin.* 

The  present  Libyan  is  known  by  no  generally  received  name, 
though  that  of  Berber  may  perhaps  become  ultimately  adopted. 
Those  of  Kabyle,  Ta-masheq,  and  many  others  are  merely  the 
names  of  particular  dialects,  which  cannot  therefore  be  applied  to 
the  whole  group,  f 

It  is  difficult  to  define  the  limits   of  the  Berber  language.     It 

seems  to  occupy  the  whole  country  to  the  south  of  Tripoli,  Tunis, 

;  i  i.  and  Morocco,  at  certain  points  reaching  even  to  the  coast, 

as  in  Algeria,  from  Dellys  to  Bugi,  and  even  farther  east  (Kabyl), 

'■n  Tenes  and  ShersheLJ 

The  phonetic  system  of  the  various  Berber  dialects  is  tolerably 
Mils.  As  in  the  other  Hamitic  tongues,  t  is  the  sign 
of  the  feminine,  placed  occasionally  at  the  beginning  only,  but 
more  usually  both  prefixed  and  suffixed  at  once.  Thus.  akli  = 
i ;  ekahi  =  cocls.;  but  taM.it  -  negress;  tehahit —hem  ;  amaher  = 
a  Tuareg;  tamaher—&  Tuareg  woman.  The  Berber  verb  has  one 
form  only,  a  sort  of  aorist  to  which  a  present  or  future  idea  is 
imparted  by  purely  accessory  proc< 

A  dumber  of  Arabic  mads  have  crept  into  the  Berber  dialei 

*u(  i        pifcte  dee   Inscriptions  Numidiqnefl,"  "Memoires  de  la 

,  ...  de  Lille,"  3rd  series,  viii.  p.  361.    Paris,  Lille,  ls7o. 

fYetthese  terms  aro  constantly  bo  misapplied  by  English  philoli 

.    .  -  j  1 1  number  of  The  8aturd  ■  ■    -   usually 

"the  Bern  i      or  Amazigns,"  as  convertible  terms. 
June  17.  L876,  p.  7&7.  -  \<  ator. 

J  Hanoteau,  "  Esaai  de  Grammaire  do  la  Langoe  Tamaoliek,"  in  fine. 
Paris,  1869. 

N    2 


180  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH—INFLECTION.        [Chap.  v. 

and,  with  the  exception  of  the  Ta-masheq,  they  have  all  lost 
whatever  special  graphic  systems  they  may  have  ever  possessed. 
The  Ta-masheq,  composed  of  tolerably  regular  characters,  is  difficult 
to  read,  the  vowels  not  being  expressed  nor  the  words  separated  in 
writing.  To  decipher  it  one  must  therefore,  in  the  first  place,  be 
acquainted  with  the  language  itself. 

M.  Hanoteau  estimates  the  Berbers  of  Algeria  at  upwards  of 
855,000,  of  which  500,000  are  in  the  Government  of  Constantine 
alone.  How  many  there  may  be  in  the  regions  stretching  south 
from  Algeria  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

It  may  be  stated  in  conclusion  that  the  language  of  the  Guanches, 
the  aboriginals  of  the  Canaries,  Avas  connected  with  the  Libyan 
group.* 

§  3._ The  Ethiopian  Group. 

The  idioms  composing  this  group,  which  has  not  yet  been  very 
well  defined,  are  not  to  be  confused  with  the  Semitic  tongues  of 
Abyssinia,  such  as  the  Tigre,  Amharic,  and  others  above  spoken  of. 
These  latter  have  sometimes  been  called  Ethiopian,  whence  the 
confusion ;  to  avoid  winch  we  reserve  this  name,  as  is  now  generally 
done,  for  the  Hamitic  branch  of  the  languages  of  Central  Africa 
spoken  towards  the  south  of  Egypt. 

Of  this  group  there  are  six  principal  members  : 

Somali,  in  the  extreme  eastern  point  of  the  continent,  stretching 
south  from  the  Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb  nearly  to  the  Equator. 

Galla,  Avest  of  Somali,  south  of  Abyssinia,  and  north  of  the 
Bantu  system. 

Beja,  spoken  by  the  Hadendoas,  and  by  some  of  the  Beni-Amer, 
between  the  Kile  and  the  Bed  Sea,  north  of  Abyssinia. 

Saho,  Dankdli  and  Agaii,  in  Avestern  Abyssinia. 

The  classification,  hoAvever,  of  these  idioms  is  not  yet  settled, 
and  all  that  can  for  the  present  be  done  is  to  group  them  together 
in  connection  with  the  Hamitic  family,  to  Avhich  they  clearly 
belong. 

*  Sabin  Berthelot,  "Memoire  sur  les  Guanches,"  deuxieme  partie, 
"  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  Ethnologkiue,"  ii.  p.  77.     Paris,  1815. 


Ciiap.  v.]         THIED    FOEM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  181 

Thus  in  Beja  the  feminine  element  is  t,  which,  as  in  Egyptian, 
may  be  placed  either  before  or  after  the  noun.  Thus  the  masculine 
suffix  b  is  replaced  by  t  in  the  forms  crab  =  albus  ;  erat  =  alba.  At 
times  the  feminine  element  occurs  both  at  the  beginning  and  end 
of  the  word. 

In  Ta-masheq  the  verbal  causative  sign  is  s  :  erh  in  =  to  be  ill : 
serhin=to  make  ill.  En.  Beja  it  is  es :  edlub  =  to  sell  \  esdelub =to 
cause  to  sell.     In  Gatta,  za  :  gua  =to  be  dry  ;  guaza  =to  make  dry. 

So  with  conjugation  itself,  where  in  Saho,  as  in  Coptic,  we  have 
a  form  in  which  the  personal  element  precedes,  and  another  in 
which  it  follows  the  root.  It  precedes  it  in  nekke  =  we  were,  and 
follows  it  in  kino  =  we  are  (ne-kke,  ki-no).  So  with  the  Galla: 
gigna=we  went,  and  nefdeg  =  ire  lost  (gig-na,  ne-fdeg),  where  the 
first  is  a  perfect,  the  second  an  aorist,  or  indefinite  form.  The 
process  is  analogous  to  that  employed  by  the  Semitic  tongues  in 
like  circumstances. 

(C)    The  Aryan  Languages. 

We  shall  have  to  enter  into  fuller  details  concerning  tins 
important  family  than  we  have  given  of  any  others,  and  the  reason 
must  be  obvious  enough.  Their  importance  is  immense  from  every 
point  of  view.  They  serve  nowadays  as  the  instruments  of 
modern  culture  after  having  been  the  interpreters  of  most  of  the 
older  civilisations.  No  forms  of  speech  have  lived  so  much,  if  not 
as  regards  the  actual  term  of  their  existence,  at  least  in  respect  of 
the  manifold  periods  thai  they  have  passed  through. 

Another  consideration  interests  us  in  a  special  manner.  The 
alone  possess  a  real  comparative  grammar.  'While 
the  grammar  of  the  Semitic  family  has  still  to  he  compiled,  that  of 
the  Aryan  is  already  nearly  complete,  not  merely  in  its  -rand  out- 
lines and  general  features,  but  in  a  vasl  number  of  minor  details. 

\  man  of  genius,  Bopp,  was  the  first  to  demonstrate  the  identity 
of  the  great  buli  of  the  Aryan  tongues,  lie  did  aol  live  definitely 
to   codify  their  phoneti  their  processes  of  word-formation, 

and  his  "Comparative  Grammar"  is  now  merely  a  historical 
monument,  though  bis  name  is  nut  the  ],  .-  |„  nnanently  associated 


182  THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

with  one  of  the   discoveries   that  do   honour   to   the   nineteenth 
century. 

In  all  his  writings  Bopp  had  aimed  at  establishing  the  close 
affinity  of  Sanskrit,  Zend,  Persian,  Greek,  Latin,  the  Keltic, 
Teutonic,  Slavonic,  and  Lithuanian  groups.  This  great  truth  once 
thoroughly  secured,  the  science  of  the  Aryan  tongues  made  new 
and  rapid  strides.  Prom  the  affinity  of  all  these  idioms  some 
older  form  was  assumed,  whence  they  all  sprang ;  a  form,  doubtless, 
extremely  remote,  and  lost  for  ever,  but  which  might  possibly  be 
restored.  And  here  it  is  but  just  to  mention  two  names,  those  of 
Schleicher  and  Chavee,  which  the  science  of  language  never  can 
overlook  without  ingratitude.  To  them  we  owe  the  first  realisation 
of  the  fruitful  conception  of  a  common  primeval  Aryan  mother- 
tongue.  In  the  introduction  to  an  important  work  published 
nearly  thirty  years  ago,  Chavee  was  able  to  write:  "These  lan- 
guages are  for  the  philologist  merely  varieties  of  some  one  primeval 
form  of  speech  formerly  spoken  in  central  Asia.  Convinced  of 
this  truth,  we  have  undertaken  to  restore  the  words  of  this 
primitive  language  organically,  by  everywhere  re-establishing  the 
original  type  by  means  of  its  better  preserved  varieties."*  This 
contains  the  very  essence  of  the  modern  science  of  language. 
Schleicher,  in  his  turn,  produced  that  admirable  manual,  which 
may  doubtless  be  revised,  supplemented,  improved,  but  which 
must  still  ever  remain  the  foundation  of  Aryan  philological 
studies,  t 

•  §  1. — TJie  Common  Aryan  Mother-Tongue. 

Before  speaking  of  the  various  members  of  this  family,  and 
inquiring  into  the  degree  of  affinity  that  knits  them  together,  we 
must  sketch  a  general  outline  of  the  common  mother-tongue  that 
gave  birth  to  these  different  idioms.  It  is  sufficiently  known  in  its 
main  features  to  enable  us  to  reproduce  its  general  characteristics, 
and  at  times  to  go  even  stiU  farther.    It  is,  indeed,  merely  a  language 

*  "  Lexicologie  Indo-Europeenne."     Paris,  1849. 

f  "  Compendium  der  Vergleichenden  Gramxnatik  der  Indo-Germanischen 
Sprachen,"  3rd  edition  (posthumous).     Weimar,  1871. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  183 

that  lias  been  restored,  and  of  which  there  remains  no  written 
record.  Bnt  the  comparison  of  the  various  idioms  sprung  from  it 
shows  clearly  enough  wherein  consist  the  organic  and  primitive 
elements  of  each,  what  they  still  possess  of  the  common  inheritance, 
and  what  we  are  to  think  of  their  phonetic  variations  and  diverse 
forms,  much  in  the  same  way  as  a  classical  scholar  is  enabled  to 
restore  the  original  form  of  a  lost  manuscript,  of  which  there  may 
exist  unlv  a  certain  number  of  defective  or  imperfect  copies. 

The  common  Aryan  speech  possessed  the  three  vowels,  a,  i,  ", 
with  their  corresponding  long  sounds,  d,l,u.  Sanskrit,  and  certain 
Slavonic  tongues,  such  as  Croatian,  have  a  lingual  r  vowel-sound, 
which  is  usually  considered  as  quite  secondary.  But  some  writers, 
with  whom  we  agree,  believe  that  the  common  tongue  also 
possessed  a  vowel  r,*  though  the  matter  being  still  controverted,  it 
need  not  further  detain  us  here. 

An  important  fact  to  be  noted  is  the  variation  of  the  radical 
vowel,  which  occurs  in  two  ways.  The  first  is  what  is  called  the 
"gradation"'  of  the  vowel,  consisting  in  the  introduction  of  a  short 
a  before  the  radical  vowel,  the  radical  i  thus  becoming  ai,  u 
becoming  au,  and  a  becoming  a,  that  is  aa.  Tims  the  root  /  to 
go,  gives  in  the  indicative  present  the  organic  form  aiti  =  h.e  goes, 
whence  the  Sanskrit  <ti,  the  Latin  it  for  &it,  the  Lithuanian  eiti. 
It  is  now  difficult  to  Bay  whether  this  first  variation  of  the  radical 
1  was  the  only  one  known  to  the  common  Aryan  tongue,  01 
whether  it  had  also  another,  consisting  in  a  fresh  insertion  of  the 
vowel  a,  whence  ai,  au,  for  aai,  aau. 

It  is  no  less  difficult  to  understand  in  what  way  this  modification 
of  the  radical  vowel  effects  certain   changes  in   tli'  E  the 

word  Itself.     Have  we  here  a  real  inflection  in  the  e,  an 

internal  modification  of  the  root,  such  as  has  hern  above  described  I 
It  may  I"-  bo,  but  it  has  imt  yet  been  clearly  proved. 

There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt  that  the  Becond   proa 

a  true  inflection.     It   •  ■  in  the  change  of  the 

•"Menu  Pronunciation  ei  la    PrinMrdiaUtedn'B' Vooal  San- 

skrit."    Paris,  L872. 


184  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

vowel  a  of  the  pronominal  elements  ta,  na,  to  i,  u ;  these  elements, 
which  were  previously  passive,  thus  acquiring  an  active  force. 
This  will  he  made  clear  hy  an  example.  Take  the  root  ma  =  to 
think,  to  which  may  he  suffixed  the  demonstrative  ta,  as  a  deri- 
vative element,  producing  'mata  =  thought,  the  thing  thought  of. 
Now,  if  the  vowel  of  the  derivative  pronoun  hecome  i,  the  sense 
"becomes  active,  mati  meaning  the  act  of  thinking.  These  are  the 
Sanskrit  forms  mata-,  mati-.  ]STo  more  striking  instance  could  he 
given  of  true  inflection,  that  is  of  the  process  of  changing  the 
relational  sense  of  a  root  hy  means  of  an  internal  modification  of 
the  root  itself. 

The  common  Aryan  consonantal  system  was  extremely  simple, 
consisting  of  the  three  explosives  k,  t,  p,  of  their  corresponding 
softs  g,  d,  b,  and  of  the  aspirates  gh,  dh,  bh,  making  altogether 
nine  explosives.  Besides  these  the  two  nasals  n,  m,  one  dental,  the 
other  lahial,  the  liquid  r,  the  dental  sihilant  s,  and  a  r,  uttered 
doubtless  as  is  our  v  (and  not  as  w,  as  has  "been  supposed).  Had  it 
"been  so  pronounced  it  would  have  "been  a  semi-vowel,  and  not  a 
consonant.     The  system,  however,  did  possess  the  semi-vowel  y. 

Here  then  was  a  system  simple  enough  in  itself,  and  to  Avhich 
the  various  Aryan  tongues  have  added  more  or  less.  The  Indian, 
Iranian,  and  Slavonic  groups  developed  the  so-called  palatal 
sihilants  sh,  j,  and  various  kinds  of  sibilants.  The  Hellenic 
changed  the  soft  aspirates  gh,  dh,  bh,  to  the  corresponding  sharps, 
Jch,  th,ph;  while  the  Teutonic,  Latin,  and  Keltic  groups  remained 
more  faithful  to  the  original  consonantal  system,  though  these  also 
produced  some  new  sounds,  as,  for  instance,  /.  The  liquid  I  was 
unknown  to  the  common  Aryan  speech,  this  sound  developing 
itself  more  or  less  rapidly  out  of  the  old  liquid  r  throughout  all 
the  "branches  of  the  family. 

We  shall  not  dwell  at  any  length  on  the  Aryan  process  of  word- 
formation,  which  is  extremely  simple,  "being  effected  generally  hy 
suffixing  an  element  of  pronominal  origin  to  one  of  verbal  origin, 
as  in  mata-,  mati-,  ahove  quoted.  The  hyphen  attached  to  this  word 
denotes  that  it  represents  a  radical  form  only,  or,  in  other  words, 
that  it  constitutes  merely  a  simple  theme.     We  shall  presently  see 


Chap,  v.]         THIED    FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  185 

li'Av  the  case  and  personal  suffixes  are  added  to  the  theme,  thus 
making  it  a  true  word — that  is,  either  a  declined  norm  or  a  con- 
jugated verb.  Derivation  is  said  to  he  on  a  verbal  basis,  when  the 
clement  to  which  the  derivative  element  is  attached  is  a  verbal  root. 
In  the  same  way  it  is  said  to  rest  on  a  pronominal  basis  when  the 
derived  element  is  itself  a  pronominal  root;  a  case  which,  though 
less  frequent  than  the  other,  is  far  from  rare.  An  instance  is  the 
theme  AIKA,  whence  the  Sanskrit  e&a  =  one,  one  alone,  one  and 
the  same,  and  the  Latin  cequo-,  in  the  nominative  singular  masculine 
cequus  =  equal,  united.  Here  the  derivative  element  is  the  pronoun 
K.\  =  who,  and  the  derived  element  is  the  determining  pronoun  I 
(the  Latin  is,  id),  which  has  become  ai  by  "gradation,"  that  is  by 
a  being  prefixed,  as  above  explained. 

Let  us  add,  that  derivation  may  also  be  effected  by  means  of  a 
verbal  instead  of  a  pronominal  element,  though  this  is  of  much 
rarer  occurrence.  But  it  should  be  carefully  noted  that  in  all 
cases  derivation  always  takes  place  in  the  Aryan  tongues  by 
means  of  suffixes,  and  never  by  prefixes,  and  this  is  a  characteristic 
feature  of  the  family. 

The  common  Aryan  declension  included  the  three  genders — 
masculine,  feminine,  and  neuter;  the  three  numbers — singular, 
dual,  and  plural ;  and  eighl  cases — thus  being  in  every  respect 
more  complex  than  the  Semitic  system  of  declension. 

The  gender  is  denoted,  in  principle,  by  the  case-ending  itself. 
Thus,  in  themes  ending  in  a,  the  element  of  the  nominative 

alar  is  •--,  which  in  the  neuter  is  m,  the  same  as  the  accusative. 

Thus   AKVAS  =  horse   (Sanskrit,    a$vas;    Latin,    equus);    ?ugam  = 

■    oskrit,  yugam;    Latin,  jugum).     The  plural  sign  follows, 

in  principle,  that  of  tin'  case  ;   but  this  sign  is  not  always  the  same, 

and  it  is  often  very  difficult  to  discover  its  primitive  form.  In 
many  case*  it  is  simply  the  consonant  8,  the  remnant  of  an  element 
formerly  -ecu  in  it    integral  form. 

It  must  not  he  forgotten   thai    fchi  e  suffixe      some  indicating 

lumber-    were  originally  independent   forms,  which  in 

course   "I'   time    became    merely   secondary  elements,   adapted  to 

indicate  the  n  and  manner  of  being  of  other  i""i  .      Bui 


186  THIRD   FORM   OP   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

the  numerous  attempts  to  discover  the  primitive  form  of  these 
elements  have  hitherto  remained  without  any  definite  results. 
Many  more  or  less  probable  conjectures  have  been  proposed,  but 
the  problem  remains  still  to  be  solved. 

The  common  Aryan  noun  had,  as  stated,  eight  cases — two 
direct,  the  nominative  and  accusative  ;  and  six  indirect,  the  locative, 
dative,  ablative,  genitive,  and  a  twofold  instrumental.  The  organic 
form  of  these  suffixes  was  in  the  singular,  as  follows  :  Nominative, 
s,  generally  persisting,  but  in  the  derived  languages  occasionally 
disappearing,  in  virtue  of  certain  euphonic  laws ;  accusative  of 
themes  ending  in  a  consonant,  am,  of  those  ending  in  a  vowel,  M, 
as  in  the  Latin  sororem,  where  the  theme  is  soror,  and  in  sitim, 
Avhere  the  theme  is  siti ;  locative  singular,  I,  which  we  shall  see 
has  passed  in  Greek  to  the  dative,  and  in  Latin  has  not  been  quite 
lost ;  dative  singular,  ai,  strictly  retained  by  Zend  and  the  Indian 
languages  only ;  ablative,  sometimes  at,  sometimes  T ;  genitive, 
usually  as,  occasionally  s,  and  when  the  theme  ends  in  a,  sya. 
The  first  instrumental  a,  the  second  hid. 

These  various  endings  are  applied  to  all  nouns  substantive, 
adjective,  and  participial,  which  threefold  division  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  form  itself  of  the  word,  Avith  Avhich  we  are  uoav 
concerned.  The  vocative  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  case  at  all, 
being  in  principle  the  same  in  form  as  the  theme  itself :  akva  = 
0  horse;  AVI  =  0  sheep;  agni  =  0  fire.  But  in  course  of  time 
certain  Aryan  tongues  have  sometimes  assimilated  it  to  the 
nominative,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  have  sometimes  used  the 
nominative  in  a  vocative  sense. 

The  Aryan  verb  has  tAvo  voices,  one  transitive — I  hear,  I  strike ; 
the  other  intransitive— I  hear  myself,  I  strike  myself ;  both,  hoAV- 
ever,  being  active.  These  different  senses  are  expressed  by  the 
pronominal  element  placed  at  the  end  of  the  verbal  theme.  In 
other  Avords,  there  are  tAvo  kinds  of  personal  suffixes — transitive 
and  intransitive.  Thus,  in  the  third  person  singular,  for  instance, 
the  suffix  of  the  transitive  voice  is  ti,  and  of  the  intransitive  tai, 
Avhere  we  recognise  the  Greek  form  rat  of  the  voice  spoken  of  by 
the  grammarians  as  passive,  which  in  Greek  really  has  this  sense, 


Chap,  v.]        THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  187 

but  the  primitive  meaning  of  which  was  simply  intransitive  or 
reflective.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  personal  suffixes  of  the 
intransitive  voice  derive  from  those  of  the  transitive,  that  of  the 
first  person  evidently  meaning  /  myself;  that  of  the  second, 
thou  thyself;  and  that  of  the  third,  he  himself,  in  Lai  in  ego  me, 
tu  te,  HI'-  se.  This  point  has  not  yet  been  definitely  settled,  but  it 
is  hard  to  believe  that  it  will  not  be  sooner  or  later. 

While  the  Semitic  system  possessed  two  tenses  only,  one 
expressing  complete,  the  other  incomplete  action,  tin'  common 
Aryan  tongue  had  six,  four  simple  and  two  compound  tenses. 

The  simplest  form  of  the  present  is  the  theme  itself,  followed  by 
the  personal  suffix.  At  times  the  root  vowel  has  been  augmented 
in  the  manner  already  explained,  as  when  the  root  I  =  to  go, 
becomes  Al :  AiTi  =  he  goes  (Sanskrit  eti,  Lithuanian  eiti).  At 
times  the  verbal  root  itself  is  derived.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  a 
complex  form,  such  as  bhara,  where  bhar  is  radical  and  a  deri- 
vative, we  shall  get  the  present  bharati  =  he  hears.  But  in  any 
case  the  present  is  always  a  simple  tense,  whether  the  root  itself 
or. some  derivative  form  of  it  is  to  be  conjugated. 

The  imperfect   is  formed    i>\    prefixing    the    augment   a  to  the 

m    theme,    whether   it    lie    simple   or   derived,    the    personal 

endings  being  further  shortened,  ti  of  the  third,  to  /.  and  ,„',  of 

the  first,  to  ///.     Thus  from    the  present  miAR.vn  =  he  bears,  we 

get  the  imperfect  adiiakat  -  he  was  bearing. 

The  simple  aorist,  like  the  imperfect,  is  denoted  by  the  augment 
and  the  personal  endings  contracted,  being  distinguished  from  the 
imperfect  by  its  departure  from  tin-  form  of  the  present,  [n  Greek, 
for  instance,  the  root,  0?  =  to  put,  is  doubled  in  the  present,  giving 
Ti6tT( -  you  put ;  to  this  reduplicate  form  the  imperfect  prefixes  the 
augment,  making  eridere  =  you  were  pulling.  I'.ui  l  he  simple  aorist 
the  reduplical  ion,  ■  dtre. 

The  perfect  i^  characterised   by   reduplication  of  the  root.     To 

four  tenses  there  are  added,  as  stated,  two  compound  one  .  of 

which  one  is  the  future,  which  is  composed  of  the  verbal  rooi  ami 

,  a,  s,va,  v.  hoc  primitive    ense  seems   to  have  been 

■  .)'  ■•'.liming  at,"  whence  the  San  kril  ddsyaii     he  will  give. 


188  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

The  compound  aorist,  preserved  by  Sanskrit,  Zend,  the  Slavonic 
tongues,  and  Greek  (this  last  under  the  name  of  first  aorist),  is 
characterised  by  the  element  sa. 

In  the  common  Aryan  tongue  these  six  tenses  are  completed 
by  three  moods — the  indicative,  conjunctive,  and  optative.  The 
indicative  has  no  characteristic,  here  the  tenses  remaining  in  their 
simple  form.  The  conjunctive  is  marked  by  an  a  placed  between 
the  theme  and  the  personal  suffix ;  thus  the  indicative  present 
being  ASTi  =  he  is,  the  conjunctive  will  be  asati.  The  opta- 
tive, sometimes  called  potential,  is  formed  by  inserting  the  element 
ya,  ya*,  between  the  verbal  theme  and  the  contracted  personal 
suffix  :  asyat  =  may  he  be  ! 

The  table  here  presented  of  the  different  organic  forms  of  the 
primitive  Aryan  system  is  doubtless  but  little  developed.  We 
trust,  however,  that  it'  may  suffice  to  convey  some  idea  of  the 
general  spirit  of  this  system.  When  we  come  to  speak  of  the 
different  members  of  the  Aryan  family,  it  will  be  impossible  for 
us  to  do  more  than  point  out,  in  a  summary  way,  what  each  of 
them  has  preserved  or  lost  of  the  common  inheritance ;  but  enough 
has  already  been  stated  to  show,  at  least  in  a  general  way,  the 
nature  and  the  wealth  of  this  inheritance.* 

The  Aryan  family  is  divided  into  eight  great  branches  :  The 
Indie,  Iranic,  Hellenic,  Italic,  Keltic,  Teutonic,  Slavonic,  and  Lettic. 
These  Ave  shall  now  pass  in  successive  review,  noticing  their  special 
features,  the  sub-divisions  of  each,  their  history  and  then-  literature. 
Wc  shall  have  also  to  inquire  into  the  degree  of  affinity  by  which 
certain  branches  of  this  great  family  may  be  more  closely  related 
to  each  other,  and  shall,  in  conclusion,  devote  a  few  words  to 
the  region  where  in  all  probability  the  Aryan  mother-tongue  was 
spoken. 

*  Here  follow  some  remarks  on  the  terms  "  Indo-Germanic,"  "  Indo- 
European,"  and  "  Aryan,"  by  which  this  family  has  been  variously  known. 
The  writer,  on  very  insufficient  grounds,  rejects  "Aryan,"  and  retains  "Indo- 
European  "  for  want  of  a  better.  But,  the  cmestion  having  been  practically 
settled  in  Germany  and  England,  and,  indeed,  in  France  itself,  in  favour  of 
"  Aryan,"  the  passage  lias  been  omitted,  and  Aryan  everywhere  substituted 
for  Indo-European  in  this  translation. — Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIKD   FORI!   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  189 


§  2.— The  Indie  Branch. 

As  early  as  the  sixteenth  century,  an  Italian  named  Filippo 
Sassetti  drew  attention  to  Sanskrit,  the  old  and  sacred  language  of  the 
Hindus,  going  so  far  as  to  compare  certain  words  of  his  own  mother- 
tongue  with  it,*  Two  hundred  years  thereafter,  towards  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  friar  Paulinusa  Sancto  Bartholomseo  pub- 
lished at  Rome  the  first  Sanskrit  grammar  composed  in  a  European 
language.  Some  years  previously,  the  Frenchmen  Coeurdoux  and 
Barthelemy,  had  communicated  to  the  Academy  their  views  on  the 
affinity  of  Sanskrit  with  Latin  and  Greek.  Lastly,  the  works  of  a 
great  number  of  Englishmen,  amongst  whom,  Sir  William  .loins, 
Colebrooke,  Carey,  AVdkins,  prepared  the  way  for  and  rendered 
possible  the  really  fundamental  work  of  Bopp. 

It  was  on  Sanskrit  that  the  whole  structure  of  Aryan  comparative 
grammar  was  now  based.  Not  that  this  old  language  could  be 
regardd.  even  in  its  most  ancient  monuments,  as  the  common 
mother  of  the  Iranian,  Creek,  Latin,  Slave,  and  other  members  of 
the  8ame  family ;  but  it  departed,  on  the  whole,  far  less  than  any 
of  them  from  the  now  lost  tongue,  from  which  they  all  equally 
sprang.  Greek,  Latin,  and  their  congeners,  no  more  derive  from 
Sanskrit  than  do  Hebrew  and  Phoenician  from  Arabic.  Eence 
the  .Tin  "  Sanskritic,"  as  sometimes  applied  to  the  Aryan  tongues, 
is  altogether  out  of  place.  Doubtless  the  Sanskrit  forms  are  often 
more  correct  and  better  preserved  than  those  of  the  cognate  ton 
but  these  last,  in  their  turn,  often  surpass  the  Sanskrit  in  these 
respects,  approaching  more  closely  to  the  common  type  whence  all 
derive.     And  what  is  here,  stated   is  quite  as  applicable  to  the 

;:ril   of   the    Vedas   as   it   is   to   the   classic  Sanskrit   (of  a   later 

period). 

The  Indie  branch  eml                        .  i  tie  cl       only  of  idioms, 

out  ■  ■'■>>'■  are  very  old,  while  others  are  .-till                 b  mce 

we  shall  i  hem  under  I             rate  beadi] 

*  "  i.  p.  416  fin  I  i  !  Larenoe,  L855i 


190  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

(1)  TJie  Ancient  Hindu  Languages. 

The  word  SansJcrta  means  "perfect,  finished;  "hence  the  Sanskrit 
is  the  perfect,  the  finished  language.  This  name  was  given  to  it 
in  contrast  with  the  term  prakrta,  which  means  "  natural,"  and  is 
applied  to  the  old  vernacular,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  to  the 
various  dialects  of  the  vulgar  tongue.  Sanskrit  had  "become  the 
language  of  religion,  law,  and  letters,  while  Prakrit  was  the  current 
popular  form  of  speech,  which  was  not  at  first  a  written  language 
at  all. 

Sanskrit  possessed  the  vowels  a,  i,  u,  long  and  short,  the  lingual 
vowels  r,  I,  the  first  of  these  also  long,  e  and  3  representing  the  old 
diphthongs  ai  and  au  ;  lastly,  the  diphthongs  ai  and  an.  Its  conso- 
nantal system  was  rich;  besides  the  explosives  I;  t,  p,  g,  d,  I, 
comprising  the  palatal  explosives  ch  and  j,  and  some  linguo-dental 
explosives,  borrowed  seemingly  from  the  Dravidian  family,  and 
usually  transcribed  by  a  t  and  a  d,  with  a  clot  underneath.  More- 
over, while  the  only  aspirates  known  to  the  common  Aryan  tongue 
were  gh,  dli,  bh,  Sanskrit  possessed,  side  by  side  with  each  simple 
explosive,  its  corresponding  aspirate,  as,  for  instance,  Teh,  fh,  pli, 
making  altogether  twenty  explosives,  of  which  ten  were  simple  and 
ten  aspirate.  The  common  Aryan  tongue  had  only  two  nasals,  m 
and  n,  while  Sanskrit  had  one  for  each  order  of  its  consonants,  a 
labial,  a  linguo-dental,  &c,  five  altogether.  Instead  of  a  simple 
sibilant,  s,  it  had  four,  besides  an  aspirate  h,  and  lastly  y  and  v. 

The  Sanskrit  euphonic  laws  are  very  intricate,  and  can  be- 
mastered  only  by  long  practice.  They  are  exceedingly  strict,  and 
while  depending  in  general  on  perfectly  intelligible  acoustic  prin- 
ciples, they  may  be  said  to  be  characterised  at  times  by  an  almost 
excessive  nicety  of  utterance,  which  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
understand.*  The  euphony  of  the  Slavonic  tongues,  with  all  its 
delicacy,  is  far  from  being  so  nice  as  that  of  the  Sanskrit,  in  com- 
parison witli  which,  that  of  Latin  and  Greek  is  no  more  than  an 
essay  of  a  very  rudimentary  nature. 

*  In  our  "  Enphonie  Sanskrite,"  we  have  endeavoured  to  draw  up  as 
simple  a  scheme  of  them  as  possible.     Paris,  1872. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  191 

On  the  other  hand,  the  formation  of  the  words  offers  no  very 
great  difficulty,  owing  to  the  high  state  of  preservation  in  which 
the  language  still  exists.  The  elements  entering  into  the  derivation 
of  the  words  are  far  more  easily  detected  in  Sanskrit  than  in  any 
of  the  cognate  tongues,  the  (old)  Iranic  idioms  alone  perhaps 
excepted. 

The  Sanskrit  declension  may  be  said,  on  the  whole,  to  represent  the 
common  Aryan  system  very  closely.  The  greatest  discrepancy  betwe<  m 
the  scheme  of  a  Sanskrit  declension  and  that  of  the  corresponding 
organic  form  would  be  connected  with  the  euphonic  modifications 
I  i  which  Sanskrit  is  subject.  Not  however  that,  apart  from  this, 
sclension  can  be  said  to  be  perfectly  organic.  Tims,  it  preserves 
the  true  form  of  the  ablative  singular  in  those  nOuns  only  whose 
theme  ends  in  a;  hence  the  old  Latin  form  smabud,  navaled,  and 
rs,  have  nothing  analogous  to  them  in  Sanskrit.  But  this,  on 
the  whole,  is  but  an  exceptional  case,  and  Sanskrit  declension 
may.  speaking  generally,  be  said  to  reflect  faithfully  enough  (hat 
of  the  common  mother-tongue  whence  it  flows.  In  this  respect  it 
unquestionably  surpasses  the  ancient  Iranian  declension,  though 
this  also  is  fairly  well  preserved. 

iskrit  retains  the  six  organic  Aryan  tenses,  present,  imperfect, 
simple  aorist,   perfect,  future,   compound  aorist,   to   which  it  lias 
added  the  conditional,  a  new  creation  of  its  own.    This  conditional 
thing  but   the   future  with  the  augment   prefixed,  and    its 
I  suffixes  contracted     Thus,  from  bhotsyaH= he  will  know, 
^Jidtsyat =h.e  might  or  would   know.     The  Sanskrit  con- 
ditional  is  therefore  to  the  future  what  the  imperfecl    is    to    the 
■  nt. 
The  ancient  Vedic  I  relatively  but.  little  from  the 

is,  the  Sanskrit  of  the  Hindu  epics,  the  points 
nee  in  no  way  affecting  the  <■-  tence  or  constitution  of  the 
.  it  it  would  he  impossible  to  dwell  mi   this  subject 
without  entering  in!  of  needle     detail  . 

Tip'  Hindu  graphic  -•.  item,  known  as  the  I  >■  vandgari,  ox  "divine 

writiic_r,"  is  composed  of  some  fifty  Bimple  cl  .  read  from  left 

bt,  and  of  a  multiplicity  of  compL  containing  two  or 


192  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

three  simple  letters  blended  together.  It  has  the  great  advantage 
of  being  able  to  be  transcribed  in  Eoman  letters,  furnished  with  the 
necessary  diacritical  marks.  A  consonant  in  principle  is  never  read 
alone,  being  always  followed  by  an  inherent  vowel  a,  unless  some 
secondary  sign  denote  that  the  vowel  thus  following  is  other  than 
a.  If  a  word  end  in  a  consonant  and  the  next  begin  with  a  vowel, 
the  two  words  are  connected  in  writing ;  a  difficulty  which,  with 
some  others  equally  serious,  renders  the  Devanagari  of  little 
practical  use. 

The  oldest  Hindu  inscriptions  were  cut  on  rock  surfaces,  about 
the  third  century  before  our  era.  The  origin  of  these  characters 
seems  now  fairly  established,  and  it  is  generally  connected  with  the 
old  Phoenician  alphabet  above  explained.*  The  Hindu  alphabet 
did  not  remain  confined  to  a  corner  of  India,  but  is  now,  under 
various  forms,  employed  by  nearly  all  the  modern  dialects  of  the 
peninsula.  The  Tibetan  also  is  derived  from  it,  as  well  as  the 
Javanese,  besides  a  number  of  other  alphabets. 

Amongst  the  Prakrit,  or  vulgar  forms,  that  were  cm-rent  side  by 
side  with  the  sacred  and  literary  language,  there  was  one  which 
was  reserved  for  quite  a  special  career.  This  was  the  Pali,  the 
instrument  of  Buddhist  propagandism,  the  special  language  of  a 
religion  endowed  with  an  enormous  power  of  expansion.  Hence 
the  importance  of  the  literature  of  Pali,  which  seems  to  have  been 
no  other  than  the  vulgar  speech  of  the  district  of  Magadha,  in 
north-eastern  India;  a  language  itself  extremely  ancient,  and  in 
some  respects  showing  a  marked  superiority  even  over  the  old 
Prakrit  documents  embodied  in  ancient  Hindu  dramatical  literature. 
Thus,  it  does  not,  for  instance,  change  y  to  j,  as  we  shall  see  is  the 
•case  with  the  neo-Sanskrit  idioms.  It  has,  moreover,  retained  certain 
forms  of  the  old  declension  lost  in  the  other  tongues,  and  its  con- 
jugation also  is  more  highly  synthetic  than  theirs.  The  Sanskrit 
vowel  r  has  disappeared  from  Pali,  being  mostly  replaced  by  a  ;  the 
Ion"  vowels  also  become  short  in  certain  positions;  the  three 
sibilants  are  confused  in  a  single  s  ;  the   assimilation  of  the  con- 

*  A.  Weber,  "Indische  Skizzen,"  p.  125,  Berlin,  1857;  Fr.  Miiller,  "Reise 
der  Oesterr.  Fregatte  Norara,  Lingnistischer  Theil,"  p.  219,  Vienna,  1867. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  193 

sonants  is  more  and  more  developed,  and  all  words  must  end  either 
in  a  simple  vowel  or  a  nasal  vowel.  In  the  declension  the  dual  is 
entirely  lost,  and  the  dative  is  absorbed  in  the  genitive.  Such  are 
some  of  the  leading  peculiarities  of  Pali. 

Of  all  Aryan  tongues  there  are  hut  few  whose  literature  can 
compare  with  that  of  ancient  India.  Hindu  literature  was  dis- 
tinguished not  only  by  its  wealth  and  variety,  hut  also  by  the 
excellence  of  a  great  number  of  its  productions.  A.  Weber  has 
given  a  rapid  hut  very  accurate  sketch  of  it.*  The  ancient  Vedic 
literature  comprised,  in  the  first  place,  the  Rig-Veda,  the  Sama- 
Veda,  the  two  collections  of  the  Yajur-Veda,  and  the  Atharva- 
Veda.  The  first  of  these  Vedas  is  a  collection  of  songs  and  religious 
hymns  ;  the  second  and  the  third  contain  prayers  and  formulas  to  be 
recited  at  the  sacrifices  ;  the  fourth  is  much  more  recent  than  the 
others,  especially  than  the  Eig-Veda.  Besides  the  collections  of 
hymns,  Yedic  literature  also  includes  the.  "  Brahmanas,"  writings 
that  contain  a  great  number  of  religious  ordinances,  traditions, 
expositions,  and  the  "  Soutras,"  a  sort  of  appendix  to  the  preceding 
compilations. 

Tli-  classic  period  is  much  more  varied.  It  is  illustrated  at  the 
outset  by  its  grand  national  epics,  then  by  the  drama,  lyric  poetry, 
fables,  narratives,  and  pmverlis.  Lastly,  it  produced  important 
works  on  grammar,  rhetoric,  philosophy,  astronomy,  medicine,  and 
a  number  of  technical  works.  Then  follows  the  Buddhist  literature, 
of  which  Pali,  as  above  stated,  was  the  principal  instrument. 

(2)  Modern  Indian  Languages 

Are  spoken  by  about  140  millions  of  people  in  the  north  of 
India,  and  occupying  approximately  about  two-thirds  of  the  entire 
peninsula. 

They  do  nol   derive  directly  from   Sanskrit,  but   from  tl Id 

Prakrits,  or  vulgar  forms  of  Bpeech,  spoken  (for  a  time)  side  by 
ride  with  San  krit  itself.     They  arc  generally  said  to  have  been 

*  "  Akadcniische  Vorlcsuugcu  iiber  Indiaohe  Literatorgesohiohte."  Berlin 
L862. 

o 


191-  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

formed  towards  the  tenth  century  of  our  era,  possibly  a  little 
earlier.  But  by  this  we  are  merely  to  understand  that  their  present 
form  may  date  from  somewhere  about  that  period.  They  are,  of 
course,  otherwise  much  older,  being  after  all  nothing  but  the 
ancient  vulgar  Prakrits  continuously  spoken  (though  hero  and 
.  there  more  or  less  affected  by  Persian,  Arabic,  and  other  foreign 
elements). 

Of  these  neo-Hindu  idioms  there  are  a  considerable  number, 
some  possessing  but  few  written  records,  while  others  boast  of  a 
highly-developed  literature.  Amongst  the  principal  are  the  Bengali, 
Avhich  retains  many  features  of  the  ancient  literary  language;  Assam, 
differing  little  from  the  foregoing;  Uriya,  spoken  with  the  two 
previous  in  the  north-east.  In  the  north-west,  towards  the  mouth 
of  the  Indus,  the  Sindhi,  Multani,  Gujarati.  In  the  north  the 
Nepali  and  Kashmiri.  In  the  centre,  Hindi  and  Hindustani, 
called  also  Urdu,  and  a  little  more  to  the  south  the  Mardthi. 

The  name  of  Hindui  is  given  to  a  language  which,  during  the 
medieval  life  of  the  Indian  idioms,  had  a  great  literary  expansion, 
and  is  now  represented  by  certain  dialects  in  the  north-western 
provinces.  It  has  been  rightly  remarked  that  Hindi  is  nothing 
but  the  modern  form  of  Hindui.  As  to  Hindustani  or  Urdu,  that 
is  the  "  Camp  "  language,  it  was  formed  about  the  eleventh  century 
under  Mussulman  influences.  Its  vocabulary  teems  with  Arabic 
and  Persian  words,  and,  unlike  the  other  neo-Sanskrit  tongues, 
whose  alphabets  derive  from  the  Devanagari,  it  employs  the  Persian, 
that  is  the  Arabic  (slightly  modified  and)  increased  by  a  few 
additional  letters.  [But  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say  that  Urdu 
is  so  written  by  the  Mussulman  popidation,  the  Hindus  still  using 
a  slightly  modified  form  of  Devanagari.  The  former  also  affect  an 
Arabo-Persian  vocabulary,  while  the  latter  remain  more  faithful  to 
the  Sanskrit  and  Hindi  elements,  both  in  writing  and  speaking.  It 
is  as  if  an  English  writer,  affecting  a  Gorman  or  Book-Latin  style, 
should  prefer  royal  or  regal  in  all  cases  to  the  Saxon  or  Old  English 
kingly J\ 

There  is  a   considerable   contemporary   neo-Prakrit  and  Hindi 


Chap,  v.]         THIED   FORI!   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  195 

literature,    and   Hindustani   especially   gives   daily   proofs   of    an 
activity  that  promises  it  a  protracted  future.* 

The  general  character  of  the  phonetics  of  these  idioms  is  a 
strong  tendency  to  assimilation,  the  substitution  of  the  sound  j 
for  an  older  y,  the  rather  frequent  change  of  r  to  d,  the  simplifi- 
cation of  the  classic  system  of  sibilants,  the  substitution,  also 
frequent  enough,  of  the  simple  aspirate  //  for  the  older  aspirated 
explosives  /,-//,  gh,  dh,  Sec.  The  neuter  gender  has  disappeared  in 
nearly  all  the  neo-Hindu  tongues,  and  themes  ending  originally  in 
vowels  often  reject  these  vowels,  thus  terminating  now  with  a 
consonant.  The  plural,  again,  and  the  cases  are  expressed  by  par- 
ticular suffixes,  giving  these  idioms  a  very  modern  air,  and  clearly 
marking  their  transition  from  an  older  synthetic  to  an  analytic  state. 
[Thus  in  Urdu  all  real  cases  have  entirely  disappeared,  their  place 
being  taken  by  postpositions  attached  to  the  theme,  either  modified 
or  slightly  changed  in  the  singular,  and  in  the  plural  increased  by  the 
nasal  on,  as  in  larka  =  the  hoy  ;  larke-Jco  —  to  the  boy;  larkorirko — to 
the  boys.]  Conjugation  also  has  become  analytical,  the  old 
Prakrit  forms  having  disappeared,  and  the  actual  changes  being 
now  (mostly)  res!  Lcted  I  i  presenl  participial  or  past  participial 
forms. 

(3)  Gipsy  Dialects. 
The  language  of  the  Gipsies  is  nothing  hut  a  neo-llindu  dialect 
It  is  difficult  to  determine  |  the  time  of  their  emigration 

and  of  their  first  incursions  westwards  through  Asia,  into  Europe. 
Still  their  arrival  here  would  not  seem  to  have  taken  place  much 
later  than  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century  of  our  era. 

Their   speech  is  essentially  Hindu — a  corrupt  and  often   very 
rit.      The  p-ocabulary,  hov  full  of  foreign 

elements  borrowed  from  the  various  peoples  met  with  in  the 
westwards,  or  with  whom  they  may  b  I  d  for  a  Longer  or 

c  period. 

*  Garcia  <!••  Ta    y,  "Hirtoin  dela  Littfrature  Hindoni  e<  HindonBtani.'' 
2  vols.    Paris,  1889-47. 

0  'J 


196  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  t. 

Miklosich  has  availed  himself  precisely  of  the  state  of  the 
vocabulary  of  the  different  Gipsy  trihes  in  order  to  endeavour  to 
determine  their  line  of  march  from  India  to  Europe.  The  Persian 
and  Armenian  elements  occurring  in  it  would  seem  to  point  at  a 
former  residence  in  those  Asiatic  regions  Avhere  the  Iranian  tongues 
are  spoken.  "When  they  reached  Europe  they  found  themselves 
first  of  all  in  a  Greek-speaking  country,  as  shown  hy  the  fact  that 
amongst  all  the  Gipsy  trihes  of  Europe,  without  exception,  the 
presence  of  elements  "borrowed  from  the  Greek  has  heen  certified. 
Erom  Greece  they  proceeded  towards  Eumania,  Hungary,  Bohemia, 
Moravia,  Germany,  Poland,  and  Lithuania,  Russia,  Scandinavia, 
Italy,  the  Basque  districts,  England,  Scotland,  and  Spain.*  This 
refers  of  course  to  the  European  Gipsies  only.  On  those  of  Asia, 
and  on  the  amount  of  foreign  elements  introduced  into  their 
dialects,  our  information  is  much  more  limited. 

§  3.— TJ/e  Iranic  Brunch. 

To  the  Sanskritist  the  study  of  Zend  and  Old  Persian,  the  two 
oldest  memhers  of  this  group,  presents  hut  little  difficulty.  Indeed 
of  all  the  Aryan  tongues  the  Iranian  are  most  closely  related  to 
Sanskrit,  As  a  rule,  their  phonetic  system  is  less  complex  and 
less  delicate  than  the  Hindu,  though  on  many  points  allowing  of 
comparison  with  it.  The  Zend  and  the  old  Persian  of  Darius  and 
Xerxes  may  even  he  said  in  some  respects  to  surpass  the  Sanskrit 
itself,  approaching  more  nearly  to  the  common  Aryan  mother- 
tongue.  One  or  tAYo  examples  will  suffice  to  estahlish  this  truth. 
Whdst  Sanskrit  changes  to  a  simple  b  the  organic  diphthong  au, 
Persian  preserves  it  intact,  and  Zend  only  modifies  it  to  ao.  San- 
skrit again  substitutes  the  genitive  for  the  old  ablative  in  at  (except 
in  the  case  of  themes  ending  in  the  vowel  a),  whereas  Zend  always 
retains  the  old  ablative  ending.  On  the  whole,  however,  Sanskrit 
is  nearer  to  the    common   Aryan   type    than   is    the    Zend.     For 

*  Miklosich,  "  Ueher  die  Mundarten  und  die  Wandernngen  der  Zigeuuer 
Europa's,"  2nd  part.     Vienna,  1873. 


Chap,  v.]         THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION'.  197 

instance,  it  Joes  not  possess  the  great  wealth  of  sibilants  occurring 
in  the  Iranian  tongues.* 

The  classification  of  the  Tranic  tongues  has  not  yet  been 
thoroughly  established.  A  very  few  of  them  may  possibly  nol  I  e 
directly  related  to  each  other,  and  it  is  at  least  certain  that  not  any 
one  of  them  can  boast  of  having  been  the  common  mother-tongue 
of  all  the  rest,  Old  Persian  in  .some  respects  surpassed  the  Zend, 
while  in  others  surpassed  by  it.  Altogether  the  only  possible 
classification  of  the  members  of  this  group  must  for  the  present 
be  purely  chronological,  depending  on  the  epochs  when  they  were 
spoken.  Thus,  amongst  the  older  tongues  will  be  grouped  the 
Zend,  old  Persian,  and  old  Armenian.  To  the  Medieval  period 
will  belong  the  Huzvdresh,  Parsi,  and  classical  Armenian  ;  and 
amongst  the  modern  idioms  must  be  included  the  Persian,  neo- 
Armenian,  Afghan,  Beluchi,  &c,  and  this  order  will  here  be 
followed. 

(1)  Zend. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  last  century  a  Frenchman  named 
Anquetil-Duperron,  in  his  twenty-third  year,  embarked  as  a  simple 
.-old in- fur  India,  being  unable  in  any  other  way  to  undertake  the 
distant  journey  that  he  wished  to  make.  The  object  of  this  brave 
man,  whose  name  science  can  never  forget,  was  to  stud}-  the 
languages  of  the  country  on  the  spot.  Disappointed  in  his  hope 
of  being  able  to  learn  Sanskrit  at  Chandernagor,  be  made  bis  way 
to  Pondicherry,  alone  and  without  means,  and  exhausted  by  a 
march   of   a  hundred   days.       from    the   shores   of    the    Bay   of 

J  lie  directed  hi-   -tej,-  towards  the   e.M-t    of    .Malahar,  reached 

Mahe,  and  thence  pushed  on  to  Surat.  n  was  here  that,  gaining 
the  confidence  of  Borne  Parsee  priests,  he  was  by  them  initiated 
into  a  kn  ;  /end  and  Huzvaresh.     lie  returned  to  Era 


*  Here  again  the  wi  remark  on  the  Tern  Iranian,  for  which  he 

would  snbstitate  the  older  form  Eranian.     Bnt,  f or  th  itedinthe 

note  al  p.  188,  the  form   Iranian  is  retained  in  this  translation, 

7  Vans 


198  THIED  FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

in  1762  in  possession,  not  of  a  fortune,  but  of  over  a  hundred 
precious  manuscripts. 

Zend  is  the  language  in  which  was  composed  the  old  text  of  the 
"  Avesta,"  the  sacred  book  of  the  Zoroastrian  religion.  We  cannot 
here  discuss  the  question  of  Zoroaster's  personality,  nor  of  the 
contents  of  the  sacred  writings  attributed  either  to  him  or  to  his- 
disciples.  It  will  be  enough  to  remark  that,  of  the  books  of  the 
"  Avesta  "  a  small  portion  only  has  reached  us — the  Vendidad,  the 
Vispcred,  the  Yapia,  and  a  number  of  devotional  pieces,  private 
meditations,  and  the  like,  known  as  the  "  Little  Avesta." 

AnquetiTs  translation  of  this  work  was  very  faidty,  having  been 
executed  on  the  uncritical  data  supplied  to  him  by  the  Parsee 
priests.  But  when  consigning  his  manuscripts  to  the  Royal 
Library,  he  furnished  his  successors  with  the  sole  means  of 
revising,  correcting,  and  prosecuting  his  labours.  This  task 
devolved  on  another  Frenchman,  Eugene  Burnouf,  who  has  been 
equally  distinguished  by  his  studies  on  ancient  Persian,  a  sister 
language  to  the  Zend.  Burnouf  was  not  only  the  real  founder  of 
Zend  grammar,  but  was  also  the  head  of  the  traditional  school  of 
interpretation  of  the  Zend  writings — a  school  at  present  represented 
chiefly  by  Spiegel. 

It  seems  now  settled  that  Zend  was  the  language  cvu'rent  in  the 
eastern  Iranian  regions,  limited,  according  to  Burnouf,  on  the 
north  by  Sogdiana,  by  Hyrcania  on  the  north-west,  and  on  the 
south  by  Arachosia.  It  was  owing  to  the  general  adoption  of  this 
opinion  that  Zend  came  to  be  called  the  Baktrian  language — a 
name  in  itself  otherwise  perfectly  justifiable.  The  term  Zend, 
applied  even  to  the  language  of  the  old  texts  of  the  "Avesta,"  is 
piu-ely  conventional,  the  primitive  meaning  of  which  has  not  yet 
perhaps  been  quite  satisfactorily  determined,  but  which  it  would 
now  be  difficult  to  dispense  with,  in  the  new  sense  it  has  acquired. 

The  Zend  alphabet  is  purely  alphabetical,  that  is  to  say,  each  of 
its  letters  denotes  either  a  vowel  or  a  consonant.  There  are  very 
feAv  ligatures,  and  its  reading,  Avhich  is  from  right  to  left,  presents 
little  difficidty.  It  is  certainly  of  Semitic  origin,  but  does  not 
seem  to  be  very  ancient ;  nor  is  it  now  known  what  graphic  system. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD  FOEM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  199 

was  in  use  amongst  the  eastern  Iranians  at  the  period  when  theii 
Persian  neighbours  on  the  west  were  employing  the  cuneiform 
characters. 

Zend  comprises  two  varieties — the  ordinary  dialect  and  the 
language  of  the  "  Gathas,"  the  term  applied  to  a  number  of  pieces 
in  the  Yacna,  whose  interpretation  still  presents  the  greatest 
difficulties.  The  two  dialects  are  closely  related,  that  of  the 
I  leing  generally  considered  the  most  ancient,  and  supposed 
to  have  been  spoken  in  the  highland  regions  of  the  country,  though 
the  point  is  not  yet  settled. 

The  Zend  vowel  system  is  not  very  complex.  Besides  a,  i,  v, 
long  and  short,  there  is  a  long  e,  and  another  which  seems  to  have 
been  very  short,  besides  two  other  e's,  and  two  kinds  of  o,  of 
which  the  quantity  varies;  also  a  nasal  a  and  a  strong  labial  a. 
We  have  stated  that  Zend,  herein  more  primitive  than  Sanskrit, 
had  not  reduced  to  one  single  vowel  the  old  diphthongs  of  the 
common  Aryan  tongue.  The  first  of  these  it  represented  by  ae,  the 
second  by  ao ;  the  Persian,  in  this  respect  still  purer,  preserving 
the  primitive  diphthongs  unchanged. 

Passing  fco  the  consonants,   we    may  observe  that    the  sibilants 

readily  interchange  with  each  other;  a  change,  however,  which  is 

common  to  the  whole    Iranian  group.     On  the  other  hand,   the 

oant    of  different  orders  interchange  to  a  very  limited  degree — 

o  contrasting  strikingly  with  the  Sanskrit. 

The  Zend  declension  is,  on  the  whole,  well  preserved;  retaining, 

as  ah  marked,  the  old  ablative  singula]'  in  <d — which  has 

fared  30  ill  in  aearly  all  the  other  Aryan   tongues.     Conjugation 

also  is  very  perfect,  reflecting  with  tolerable  fidelity  the  primitive 

it  .-prang. 

The  question   of  the  antiquity  of   the  Zend  language  can   be 
we  believe,  with  Borne  approach  to  accuracy.     It  is  no 

difficult  to  pronounce  definitely  on  its  first  and  remol 

■  n  on  the  time  when  it  ceased  fco  be  spoken  :  bul  ii  may  well 
i        ipposed  to  have  been  at  Lven  period  contemporary  of 

the  ancienl  Persian.     This  la-t   we  are  doubtle     acquainted  with 
onlj  through  the  monuments  of  the  Achsemenides,  ranging  over  the 


200  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  V 

sixth,  fifth,  and  fourth  centuries  before  our  era,  but  it  is  possible, 
and  even  probable  that  it  had  been  spoken  long  previous  to  this 
•epoch.  On  the  other  hand  the  language  of  the  "  Avesta,"  and  the 
very  contents  of  its  various  texts,  do  not  permit  of  their  being 
removed  from  the  time  of  the  Persian  monuments.  Hence,  as 
stated,  the  two  languages  must  have  been  contemporaneous  at  that 
particular  point  of  time — Zend  in  Eastern,  Persian  in  Western 
Iran. 

(2)  Old  Persian. 

The  triglot  inscriptions  in  cuneiform  characters  discovered  in 
Persia  on  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  palaces  and  on  the  surface  of 
the  rocks  were  composed  in  Persian,  Assyrian,  and  a  third  language, 
of  which  but  very  little  is  still  known.  We  have  spoken  higher 
up  of  the  various  attempts  at  interpreting  the  text  of  the  middle 
column  composed  in  this  unknown  tongue  (p.  139),  and  we  have 
seen  that  Assyrian,  the  language  of  the  third  column,  was  a  Semitic 
idiom. 

It  was  in  the  year  1802  that  the  learned  Hanoverian,  Grotefend, 
attempted  to  decipher  the  first  column,  composed  in  Persian,  or  as 
it  is  often  called,  in  old  Persian.  His  starting-point  was  simple 
and  ingenious.  Setting  out  with  the  idea  that  inscriptions,  some 
of  which  must  have  cost  considerable  labour,  naturally  referred  to 
historical  events,  and  could  scarcely  be  other  than  royal  records,  he 
first  of  all  noted  the  frequent  recurrence  of  a  certain  group  of 
characters,  to  which  he  assigned  the  meaning  of  "  king."  This 
group  was  often  followed  by  the  same  group,  increased  by  some 
additional  signs.  Grotefend  concluded  that  this  last  was  but  the. 
genitive  plural  of  the  first,  and  he  interpreted  the  two  together  as 
meaning  "  king  of  kings."  The  name  preceding  these  two  groups 
was  necessarily  a  proper  name,  and  the  constant  repetition  of  these 
same  groups  made  it  clear  enough  that  we  had  here  to  do  with  a 
series  of  genealogies :  "  Such  a  king,  king  of  kings,  son  of  such  a 
one,  king." 

The   researches    of    Grotefend   were  the  starting-point  for   the 
deciphering    of   the    Persian   inscriptions,    though   they   went   no 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD    FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  201 

farther.  Bask,  the  Dane,  added  a  little,  but  it  was  reserved  for 
Eugene  L'urnouf  and  Chr.  Lassen  to  give  a  real  version  of  these 
inscriptions  and  to  construct  their  grammar.  Their  essays  appeared 
simultaneously  in  France  and  Germany,  in  the  year  1836, 
and  from  that  time  the  structure  of  old  Persian  was  finally 
established.  It  had  been  systematically  compared  with  that  of  the 
Sanskrit  and  Zend,  and  the  way  was  opened  for  those  who  have 
carried  its  study  to  the  state  it  has  now  reached  in  the  hands  of 
Rawlinson,  Spiegel,*  Oppert,  and  BLossowicz. 

The  inscriptions  of  the  Achaemenides  comprise  but  a  small 
number  of  words,  some  four  hundred  altogether,  including  a  great 
many  proper  names.  Still  there  is  enough  for  the  grammarian ; 
and  the  phonetics,  declension  and  conjugation  of  old  Persian  no"W 
no  longer  present  any  mystery.  Some  writers  have  fancied  that 
this  language  is  older  than  Zend,  whilst  others  hold,  on  the  contrary, 
that  Zend  comes  nearer  to  the  common  Aryan  type.  But  we  think 
a  third  view  might  be  taken,  namely,  that  Persian,  as  alreadj 
remarked,  surpasses  Zend  in  some  respects,  and  in  others  is  sur- 
passed by  it.  Both  have  in  principle  changed  the  original  A 
sibilant  8  to  h}  but  Persian,  herein  less  correct  than  Zend,  often 
drops  this  aspirate  where  the  sister-tongue  preserves  it.  Thus  the 
'.lit  asmi  —  1  am,  in  Lithuanian  esmi,  becomes  ahmi  in  Zend, 
and  amiy  in  Persian.  On  the  other  hand,  old  Persian  retains  the 
common  Aryan  diphthongs  ai,  au\  which  in /end  are  modified  to  at 
and  ao.  Thus  each  in  it-  turn  might  claim  the  superiority  in  these 
examples,  which  it  would  be  easy,  though  needless,  to  multiply. 

The  cuneiform  characters  of  the  first  of  the  trilingual  texts  are 
far  from  being  as  numerous  as  those  of  the  two  other  columns. 
There  are  about  sixty,  all  alphabetic,  thai  is,  representing  not 
syllables  but  vowels  and  consonants.  'I  heir  number  is  greatlj 
I.;.  the  fact  that  some  of  the  consonants  are  sometimes 
represented  by  a  different  sign,  according  as  they  precede  or  follow 
certain  vowels,  Each  word  is  separated  by  an  oblique  v. 
which  circumstance  has  greatly  facilitated  the  leading  of  the  Persian 

*  "  Die  Altpersuohen  Keftinechriften."    Leipzig,  L8G2( 


202  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

fcexl  s.  The  question  of  the  origin  of  this  alphabet  has  not  yet  "been 
clearly  settled  ;  still  the  Persian  cuneiforms  may  "be  regarded  as 
merely  a  particular  variety  of  the  general  system  of  this  graphic 
method,  and  it  is  most  assuredly  by  far  the  simplest,  or  rather  the 
most  simplified  of  any  of  them. 

(3)  Armenian. 

Armenian  seems  to  have  detached  itself  at  a  very  remote  period 
from  the  other  Iranian  tongues.  Anyhow  a  special  and  somewhat 
independent  place  must  be  assigned  to  it  in  the  Iranic  family.  Of 
its  primitive  state  we  know  little  beyond  the  few  allusions  occurring 
in  the  classic  writers.  Its  first  period  closed  with  the  opening  of 
the  fifth  century  of  our  era,  when  the  classic  epoch  begins  with  the 
formation  of  the  Armenian  alphabet  by  Mesrobius.  Both  it  and 
Georgian,  Pr.  Miiller*  thinks,  are  based  on  a  Semitic  form,  and 
more  particularly  on  the  Aramean  variety  of  it.  The  golden  age  of 
Armenian  letters  lasted  about  seven  hundred  years,  between  the 
fifth  and  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  centuries.  Its  literature  was 
copious,  its  dialects  somewhat  numerous,  and  one  of  these,  that  of 
the  province  of  Ararat,  soon  acquired  the  position  of  the  standard 
literary  language.  There  are  still  spoken  a  considerable  number  of 
Armenian  dialects,  that  it  woidd  be  a  mistake  to  look  upon  as  mere 
patois  of  the  literary  form,  which  seems  to  have  acquired  a  certain 
fixedness,  whereas  the  actual  varieties  are  but  modern  forms  of  the 
older  dialects.  As  early  as  the  eleventh  century  they  were  em- 
ployed for  literary  purposes,  to  the  detriment  of  the  classic  tongue. 
They  seem  now  to  be  divided  into  two  tolerably  distinct  groups — 
the  eastern,  embracing  the  dialects  of  Armenia,  Georgia,  south- 
eastern Eussia,  Persia,  and  India;  and  the  western,  comprising  those 
of  Hungary,  Poland,  and  the  Crimea. 

One  of  the  leading  features  of  modern,  or  at  least  of  western, 
Armenian  is  the  change  of  the  old  sharp  explosives  to  soft,  and  of 
the  old  soft  to  sharp  ones.  Thus  Jc,  t,  p,  become  g,  d,  b,  and 
<j,  d,  o,  become  li,  t,  p.      The  voAvel  and   consonantal  system  is 

*  "Ueber  den  Ursprung  der  Arraenischen  Schrift."     Vienna,  1SG5. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  203 

fairly  developed,  including,  besides  the  explosives  just  mentioned, 
a  considerable  number  of  sibilants,  and  two  sorts  of  r.  The 
Armenian  declension  is  much  fuller  than  the  (modern)  Persian,  of 
which  we  shall  have  to  speak  presently,  and  it  still  to  some  extent 
ins  the  old  case-endings.  Its  conjugation  is  still  more  wealthy, 
in  fact  retaining  all  the  old  tenses  except  the  perfect,  while  it  has 
created  three  new  ones — a  perfect,  a  pluperfect,  and  a  future — by 
employing  participial  forms  in  conjugating  the  verb.  Thus  of  all 
the  ne:  >-  Iranian  idioms  still  spoken  Armenian  has  preserved  most 
of  the  common  stock  of  the  original  mother-tongue. 

It^  vocabulary,  like  that  of  all  the  cognate  Iranian  languages, 
contains  a  considerable  number  of  foreign  words,  some  derived 
from  the  Greek  in  medieval  times,  others,  in  still  greater  numbers, 
borrowed  at  an  earlier  period  from  the  Aramean.  But  the  essence 
of  its  vocabulary,  as  well  as  the  whole  of  its  grammar,  is  still 
Iranian. 

At  a  very  early  period  Armenian  was  written,  if  not  constantly, 
certain  documents,  with  cuneiform  letters.  Inscriptions 
of  this  sort  have  been  found,  more  particularly  in  the  ruins  of 
Armavir,  not  far  from  Mount  Ararat.  The  Armenian  cuneiform 
writing  is  not  alphabetic,  like  the  Persian,  but  syllabic,  each  sign 
denoting,  not  a  vowel  or  a  consonant,  but  a  full  syllable. 

(4)  Huzvdresh. 

The  "Avesta,"  or  rather  those  books  of  the  "Avesta"  thai  were 

.-till  extant  in  the  Middle  Ages,  were  at  that  period  translated  intoa 

which  we  know  not  only  by  this  translation,  but  also  by 

a  number  of  numismatic  legends,  and  a  very  important  cosmogony, 

I  ill'-  ••  Bundehesh."  At  first  this  language  ceci  i\  ed  the  name  of 

i  PeJilevi  and  Pahlavi,  this  lasl   form  by  E.   W.  West, 

who  I  recently  collecting  fresh  materials   for  the  study  of 

Pahlavi  literature,  and  is  altogether  one  of  the  luthorities 

on  the  subject],  but  this  term  imewhal  too  vague.     Thai  of 

//  town  I.,  Joseph  Midler  and  Spiegel,*  is 

•  "  Grammatflj  iter  Snzvfti  p.  -I.    Vienna,  i- 


204  THIRD   FORM    OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

its  proper  name,  and  the  only  one  it  1ms  borne.  It  is  now  generally 
admitted  that  this  language  was  spoken  in  the  western  district 
of  Sevad.  Nothing  very  definite  is  known  as  to  its  origin,  but  the 
Huzvaresh  coins  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Sassanides  show  that  it  was 
still  current  in  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  of  our  era. 

Huzvaresh  deserves  to  be  mentioned  as  one  of  those  languages 
that  have  been  most  affected  by  foreign  influences.  It  has  been, 
so  to  say,  penetrated  by  Aramean  on  all  sides,  of  which  it  betrays 
the  most  unmistakable  proofs  in  its  vocabulary,  its  grammar,  and 
phonetic  system ;  so  that  if  such  a  thing  coidd  exist  as  a  mixed 
language,  Huzvaresh  would  be  one  of  the  most  striking  examples  of 
such  a  phenomenon.  But  hybrids  of  this  sort  cannot  be  [a  state- 
ment to  be  received  with  some  reserve],  and  Huzvaresh  is  in  truth 
an  Iranian  tongue,  quite  as  much  as  English  is  a  Teutonic.  [But 
the  comparison  does  not  hold,  because  English  grammar  is  purely 
Teutonic,  and  wholly  unaffected  by  French,  Latin,  or  any  other 
foreign  element.] 

Besides  the  Aramean  elements  present  in  the  language  of  the 
time  of  the  Sassanides,  that  of  the  "Bundehesh"  includes  some 
Arabic  forms,  betraying  its  more  recent  composition,  probably  by 
some  learned  Persian  intimately  acquainted  with  the  language  into 
which  the  sacred  books  were  translated.* 

The  Huzvaresh  grammar  shows  a  great  falling  off  from  the 
correctness  and  fidelity  to  the  older  forms  that  characterise  the  Zend 
and  old  Persian.  Gender  is  no  longer  distinguishable  by  the 
ending  of  the  nouns,  and  the  dual  has  disappeared  ;  the  accusative 
has  no  more  special  ending  than  has  the  nominative  ;  the  genitive,  or 
rather  the  idea  answering  to  that  expressed  by  the  old  genitive,  is 
rendered  by  an  element  i,  the  remnant  of  an  old  relative  pronoun  ; 
while  the  conception  corresponding  to  the  old  dative  is  expressed 
by  means  of  particles,  that  is  of  true  prepositions.  Conjugation  is 
equally  fragmentary,  but  in  any  case  the  language  has  still  re- 
mained essentially  Iranian.  This  appears  clearly  from  the  fact 
that  Huzvaresh  possesses  compound  verbs,   formed   not    only    by 

*  F.  Justi,  "  Der  Bundehesch,"  preface,  p.  viii.     Leipzig,  186S. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  205 

Iranian  root  and  preposition,  but  also  by  Iranian  root  and  Semitic 
prefix,  by  Semitic  root  and  Iranian  prefix,  and,  what  is  much  more 
remarkable,  by  both  Semitic  root  and  prefix.  And  yet  Semitic 
itself,  unlike  the  Aryan,  possesses  no  compound  verbs  at  all,  no 
forms,  for  instance,  answering  to  our  ap-prehend,  com-pre7iend,  re- 
prehend, under-take,  over-take,  par(t)-tdke,  and  the  like. 

There  are  few  alphabets  more  defective  than  the  Huzvaresh. 
One  and  the  same  sign  often  denotes  several  different  senses, 
and  there  are  a  great  many  ligatures,  or  agglomerations  of  several 
characters  all  blended  together  (like  so  many  monograms).  Hence 
in  philological  treatises  Huzvaresh  words  are  seldom  quoted  in  their 
own  characters,  but  are  mostly  transcribed  in  Roman,  or  even  in 
Hebrew  or  Arabic  letters. 

(5)  Parsi. 

Parsi  has  occasionally  been  incorrectly  named  Pazend.  Modern 
orientalists  look  on  Zend  and  Pazend  as  the  titles  of  books,  not 
the  names  of  languages,  and  their  opinion  on  this  matter  seems 
perfectly  reasonable.  No  doubt  Zend  has  supplanted  all  other 
names  as  applied  to  the  languageof  the  "  Avesta  ;"  but  Pazend  has 
not  met  with  such  general  acceptance  that  it  may  not  be  set  aside 
for  the  much  more  appropriate  term  Parsi,  that  is,  language  of  the 
! '    -''es. 

Parsi   wis  undoubtedly   contemporary    of    the  Huzvaresh,  but 

survived  it  by  several  hundred  years,  and  was  at  once  the  current 

and  the  literary  language.     It  was,   moreover,   spoken  in  a  more 

jiun  of  [ran,  so  thai  we  do  not  meet  in  it  that  abundance 

of  Aramean  elements  possessed  by  the  Huzv&resh. 

Its  grammar,  however,  has  equally  diverged  from  the  ancient 
standard  by  which  Zend  and  old  Persian  are  marked.  Withoui 
being  in  this  respect  much  removed  from  the  Huzvaresh,  it 
approaches  much  nearer  to  the  Persian,  while  still  considerably 
surpassing  it  in  the  fulness  of  its  forms.     Thus  it  preserves  much 

more  of  the  old  pr minal  elements,  and  retains  a  great  many  verbs 

that  have  disappeared  from  the   Persian.     Burnouf  and  Spiegel 


206  THIRD   FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

believe  that  Parsi  may  have  been  spoken  till  the  time  of  the  poet 
Firdousi,  that  is,  till  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century. 

Parsi  has  no  peculiar  writing  system,  employing  sometimes  the 
Zend  and  sometimes  the  Arabic  characters.  The  Parsees  are 
settled  chiefly  in  Bombay,  Surat,  Baroda,  Gujerat,  and  are  variously 
estimated  at  50,000,  80,000,  and  150,000. 

(6)  Persian. 

Of  all  the  modern  Iranian  tongues  Persian,  or  neo-Persian,  is 
the  most  diffused  and  the  best  known.  It  is  an  Iranian  dialect 
that  became  a  literary  language  about  the  year  a.d.  1000.  Its  litera- 
ture, with  which  we  are  not  here  concerned,  has  been  one  of  great 
importance,  simultaneously  embracing  poetry,  history,  and  the 
sciences.  The  "Book  of  Kings"  (Shlh-Nama)  of  Firdousi 
("  the  Homer  of  Persia"),  who  flourished  at  the  close  of  the  tenth 
and  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  is  a  national  epic  that 
may  well  rival  the  chief  productions  of  many  other  literatures.* 

Persian  has  adopted  the  Arabic  alphabet,  increased  by  the  four 
letters,  p,  ch,  j  (French),  and  g  hard. 

Declension  has  disappeared,  the  dative  and  accusative  being 
expressed  simply  by  prepositions  joined  to  the  noun.  The  idea  of 
the  genitive  is  denoted,  as  in  Huzvaresh  and  Parsi,  by  inserting 
(between  the  two  words)  the  element  i,  a  remnant  of  an  old 
relative  pronoun  :  dast-i-pusar  =  the  child's  hand;  pusar-Unan  = 
my  child.  As  much  as  to  say :  the  hand  which  (is  that  of)  the 
child  ;  the  child  which  (is)  mine.  (So  also  Koli-i-nur  =  the  moun- 
tain of  light).  So  that  we  have  here  a  purely  syntactical  process 
(supplanting  inflection). 

Conjugation  has  been  equally  simplified.  The  personal  suffixes 
have  been  fairly  well  preserved  :  m  for  the  first  person  singular  and 
plural,  d  (for  an  older  t)  for  the  third  person.  But  the  tenses  have 
shared  the  fate  of  the  case-endings,  being  now  expressed  by  modern 
processes;  in  other  words,  Persian  has  become  an  analytical 
language.    Its  vocabulary  contains  a  large  number  of  Arabic  words. 

*  Mohl     "  Firdousi :    Le  Livre  des  Rois,"  publie  en  Persan,  avec  tine 
traduction  Francaise  en  regard.     Paris,  1838. 


Chap.t.]         THIKD   FOKM   OF  SPEECH— INFLECTION.  207 

Besides  the  literary  Persian  tongue,  there  are  a  number  of 
current  varieties,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  Mazandaran,  each  of 
them  presenting  certain  peculiarities,  either  lexical,  phonetic,  or 
even  occasionally  grammatical. 

(7)  Ossetian,  Kurdic,  Beluchi,  Afghan,  $c. 

Although  here  grouped  together  under  one  heading,  these 
various  idioms  are  no  more  closely  related  to  eacli  other  in  the 
Iranian  family  than  are  some  of  the  other  members  of  the  same 
family  above  spoken  of. 

The  Ossetian  declension  is  fuller  than  the  Persian,  while  its 
conjugation  is  somewhat  analogous  to  it ;  so  that,  on  the  whole,  it 
approaches  more  to  the  older  Iranian  forms  such  as  they  still  exist 
in  Armenian,  Huzvaresh,  and  Parsi.  Ossetian  is  spoken  both 
north  and  south  of  the  Caucasus,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Dariel, 
and  is  split  up  into  a  number  of  local  varieties. 

Kurdic  may,  in  a  genera]  way,  be  said  to  be  allied  to  Persian, 
though  perhaps  rather  to  the  popular  dialects  than  to  its  literary 
form.  Its  phonetic  system  seems  more  changed  than  the  Persian. 
There  are  several  dialects,  of  which  the  principal  is  the  Kurmanji,, 
in  the  west  between  Mossul  and  Asia  Minor.  The  Zam%  is  in 
some  less,  in  others  more,  corrupt  than  its  congeners. 

mbles  Kurdic;    it  contains  a  considerable  number 
of  foreign  elements,  especially  of  words  borrowed  from  the  Arabic, 
would  seem  inclined  not  to  look  on  the  Afghan 
or  Pahkhtof  as  a  pure  Iranian  language,  considering  it  as  an  inde- 
pendent idiom,  for  i     if,  and  related  to  the  Hindu 

*  Ob  as  discussed  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  International 

C  burg  in  i  he  month  of  Septeu 

L876,  was  the  connection   of  tin's  Zaza  dialed    with   the  other  Kurdish 
Mi<. ins.     But  no  very  definite  result  seems  to  bave  been  arrived  at. 

hij  T, 

f  Here  the  form  /'       I  been  substituted  Eor  the  more  usual,  but 

as  i  he  author  writes  it,  "  paohto  "a  pouch. 

The  form   Pakkhto  a1  once  connects  this  people  with  the  iraervts  of 

whom    he   places  in  bhe  region   ai   present  occupied    bj    the 

ad  horn  whom  ti  little  doubl  t  bat  t  bej  tided. 

Their  own  popular  belief  of  their  descent  from  the  lost  tribe.-;  of  Israel — 


20S  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

quite  as  much  as  to  the  Iranian  family.  But  Fr.  Miiller  thinks 
otherwise,  regarding  it  as  an  eastern  Iranian  dialect,  the  direct 
descendant  of  some  old  Bactrian  idiom.  Its  conjugation  is  inferior 
to  that  of  the  Persian,  having  entirely  lost  certain  ancient  forms  of 
the  present  tense  retained  in  Persian,  and  usually  employing  the 
verbal  theme  for  that  tense.  Its  vocabulary  includes  a  number  of 
Persian  and  Arabic  words. 

This  is  far  from  comprising  the  whole  of  the  modem  Iranian 
idioms.  Besides  those  here  spoken  of,  and  which  may  be  con- 
sidered the  most  important  and  the  best  known,  there  are  some 
others,  such  as  that  of  the  Lurs  (Bachiari  and  Feili)  related  to  the 
Kurdic,  but  concerning  which  we  have  but  few  particulars,  and 
that  of  the  Tats,  in  the  south-east  of  the  Caucasus,  and  not  unlike 
Persian. 

It  is,  moreover,  quite  certain  that  many  other  Iranian  tongues 
have  perished  during  the  course  of  ages.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
amongst  the  races  spoken  of  by  the  ancients,  and  especially  by  the 
Greeks,  under  the  name  of  Scythians,  there  may  have  been  some 
Iranians.  For  this  opinion  there  is  some  presumptive  evidence, 
but  the  documents  so  far  available  are  too  limited  to  enable  us  to 
pronounce  definitely  on  the  subject,  Certain  languages  of  Asia 
Minor  have  also  been  included  in  the  Iranian  family,  as  for 
instance  the  Phrygian,  which  has  been  grouped  more  particularly 
with  the  Armenian,  Lycian,  Carian,  and  some  others,  though  this 
classification  is,  perhaps,  somewhat  premature ;  but  our  remarks  on 
these  idioms  must  be  reserved  till  we  come  to  speak  of  certain 
languages  which  are  evidently  Aryan,  but  whose  true  position  in 
this  family  has  not  yet  been  definitely  settled. 

§  4. — Tlte  Hellenic  Branch. 
Of  all  the  Aryan  languages  spoken  in  Europe,  Creek  is  most 

a  belief  still  shared  in  by  many  English  writers,  who  ought  to  know  better 
—no  longer  calls  for  any  special  refutation.  With  those  who  persist  in 
believing  that  an  Aryan  race  could  possibly  be  "  Bani-Israil,"  that  is,  "  Sons 
of  Israel,"  and  therefore  Semites,  there  is  no  reasoning.  "Non  ragionam 
di  loro,  ma  guarda  epassa."—  Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  209 

closely  allied  to  Sanskrit  and  the  Iranian  group.  A  better  know- 
ledge of  the  Aryan  idioms  of  Asia  Minor — Phrygian,  Lycian,  and 
others — may  possibly,  and  even  probably,  some  day,  show  that  the 
relationship  is  even  closer  than  is  generally  supposed.  We  shall 
revert  farther  on  to  this  question  of  the  various  degrees  of  affinity 
of  the  several  Aryan  groups,  and  it  will  be  enough  here  to  guard 
the  reader  against  the  idea,  at  one  time  very  generally  adopted, 
and  still  common  enough,  that  Greek  and  the  Italic  tongues  form 
together  a  separate  branch  of  the  great  linguistic  family  of  which 
they  are  members.  Greek  has  doubtless  many  intimate  relations 
with  Latin  ;  but  it  has  others,  quite  as  intimate,  with  Sanskrit  and 
Zend.  Latin,  on  the  other  hand,  is  in  many  respects  more  closely 
allied  to  the  Keltic  idioms  than  it  is  to  the  Hellenic. 

Greek  has  much  better  preserved  the  vowel  than  the  conso- 
nantal system  of  the  common  Aryan  mother-tongue,  in  this  respect 
closely  resembling  Zend  and  old  Persian.  For  instance,  it  retains 
the  old  diphthongs,  reduced  in  Latin  as  well  as  in  Sanskrit  to  a  long 
vowel  With  regard  to  the  consonants,  which  it  has  less  faithfully 
preserved,  one  of  its  most  striking  changes  is  that  of  the  (soft) 
aspirates  gh,  dh,  bh,  to  the  corresponding  (sharp)  aspirates,  1,-fi,  th, 
ph.  It  would  be  difficult  to  say  how  this  modification  was 
occasioned,  hut  the  fact  is  certain  and  constant.  Thus  the  Sanskrit 
dirghas  =  long,  bhardmi  =  l  bear,  appear  in  Greek  as  dolikhos 
(8o\ixos),  and  phero  (4>fpw).  far  from  retaining,  as  Latin  does,  the 
primitive  <  in  all  cases,  it  frequently  changes  it  to  //  and  even  to  t. 

Thus    th'-    Latin    quis,   quinqw,   are    in    Greek    tls,  rrefine    and  Treire. 

But  it  is  in  tie'  letters  •-•,  y,  v  that  it  departs  most  widely  from  the 
common  primitive  type,  here  showing  itself  inferior  to  all  the  other 
Aryan  tongues  of  Europe,  without  any  exception.  'Words  beginning 
with  8  are  usually  chan^-d  to  the  rough  (breathing  or)  aspirate  (') 
generally  transcribed  by  h.  Thus  hedtcs  (q8w)  corresponds  fco  the 
!  ,ji  svddu8  sweel ;  hepta  («rra)  is  the  Latin  septem  =  seven;  and 
hekuros  (impos)  j  eocer  father-in-law.  This  sibilant,  occasionally 
disappears  altogether,  especially  when  occurring  between  two 
vowel-,  which  is  also  the  case  with  the  primitive  y  in  the  same 
position.     Hut  at  the  beginning  of  words  y  become    either  z(pro- 

p 


210  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  t. 

nounced  dz)  or  the  rough  breathing.  Tims  zugon  (&yov)  and  hagios 
(dyiot)  correspond  to  the  Sanskrit  yugam  =  yoke,  and  yqg'yas  =  htly. 
The  primitive  0  initial  also  disappears,  or  becomes  u  in  classic 
Greek.  Thus  the  original  Aryan  kvans  —  hound,  becomes  in 
Sanskrit  cvd,  and  in  Greek  kuoii  (kv<*v),  where  w  has  changed  to  u 
(which  u  was  very  probably  pronounced  as  the  German  ii  or  the 
French  u).  In  the  words  neos  (^os),  oikos  (oikos),  and  ois  (ois) 
corresponding  to  the  Sanskrit  navas= ship,  «V(.s  =  house  [or  wick, 
wich,  as  in  Greenwich],  avis  =  ewe,  the  ■?;  has  disappeared  altogether, 
though,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  preserved  in  certain  dialects 
under  the  'form  of  the  digamma :  vefos,  [oikos,  of  is.  This  di- 
gamma  however,  was  not  retained  in  the  Attic  dialect,  which, 
owing  to  political  [and  other]  circumstances,  became  the  preponder- 
ating and  classical  language  of  Greece. 

Though  less  complex  than  the  Sanskrit,  still  the  phonetic  laws 
of  Greek  are  important  enough  in  themselves,  and  are  mainly  based 
on  a  strong  tendency  to  assimilate  consonants  of  different  orders 
when  thrown  together.  "  Zetacismus "  also  plays  an  important 
part  in  all  the  Greek  dialects,  resulting  in  the  organic  combinations 
q  +  y  d  +  y  changing  to  z.  Thus  Zeus  (Zeus)  answers  to  the  Sanskrit 
dyaus.  Greek  admits  of  no  final  consonants  except  s  and  n  (also  k, 
as  in  «c).  Hence  the  m  of  the  accusative  singular  everywhere 
becomes  n,  or  is  dropped,  as  in  (pepovra,  vaw,  which  in  Sanskrit 
are  bTmrantam,  navam  (and  in  Latin  ferentem,  navem). 

The  Greek  declension  is  well  preserved,  for,  if  it  has  lost  the 
ablative  singular,  it  has  retained  the  old  locative,  both  in  the 
singular  and  plural.  This  locative  serves  also  as  a  dative,  p-r]TPl  = 
to  the  mother;  vskvl  =  to  the  dead;  iroipevi  =  to  the  shepherd;  but 
its  form  has  otherwise  nothing  to  do  with  that  of  the  organic 
dative  the  sense  of  which  it  has  merely  accpiired  in  course  of  time. 
The  plural  locative  is  in  si  (o-i)  :  vavo-t  =  in  the  ships ;  Ativan, 
OXvfmiaai,  which  classic  grammars  wrongly  treat  as  so  many  datives. 
Greek  possesses  also  under  the  single  form  of  (pi,  the  instrumental 
singular  bhi,  and  the  instrumental  plural  bhis,  which  so  many  other 
Aryan  tongues  have  lost.  The  grammarians  treat  this  syllable  (pi  as 
a  mere  addition,  but  it  is  really  a  true  case  [which  appears  in  the 


Chap,  v.]        THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  211 

Latin  ibi,  ubi,  sibi,  and  the  plural  ibus].  The  dual  is  only  partly 
retained,  the  genitive  and  locative  having  disappeared.  But, 
speaking  generally,  the  Greek  declension  may  he  said  to  he  the 
"best  preserved,  next  to  the  Sanskrit  and  ancient  Iranian  types. 

Passing  to  its  conjugation,  we  find  that  it  retains  the  old  in- 
transitive voice  (XvofMai,  Xverut.)  which  has  disappeared  from  the 
Italic,  Keltic,  Slavonic,  and  Lettic  groups.  It  also  preserves  fairly 
well  the  six  organic  tenses,  besides  creating  some  new  ones, 
amongst  which,  a  pluperfect,  built  on  the  reduplicated  perfect. 
Altogether,  Greek  has  remained  tolerahly  faithful  to  the  common 
Aryan  type  in  all  that  regards  its  accidence,  while  departing  greatly 
from  it  in  many  points  of  its  phonetic  system. 

Its  dialectic  varieties  are  mainly  of  a  phonetic  character.  The 
numerous  dialects  may  all  he  easily  grouped  under  four  special 
forms,  the  iEolic,  Doric,  Ionic,  and  Attic,  which  are  themselves 
sometimes  reduced  to  two  main  divisions,  one  comprising  the  ^Eolic 
and  Doric,  the  other  the  Ionic  and  Attic. 

The  iEolic,  properly  so  called,*  was  spoken  in  Asia  Minor,  in 
the  Lesbos  variety  of  which  Alcseus  and  Sappho  wrote.  It  pos- 
sesses the  digamma  corresponding  to  the  organic  v,  and  is  fond  of 
doubling  the  liquid  consonants,  as  in  e/x/ii  (for  et/«)  =  I  am ;  it  also 
frequently  retains  the  primitive  d,  winch  in  Ionic  becomes  ,\ 
Another  of  its  characteristics  is  the  greater  abundance  of  verbs  in 
ut,  as  in  (jjiXiim  (for  the  ordinary  </nAa>)  =  I  love.  Boeotian,  belonging 
to  the  same  group,  retains  the  digamma,  contracts  the  diphthongs 
into  one  Inn-- vowel  ;  keeps  the  old  a  for  the  Ionic  e,  and  often 
substitutes  d  for  the  ordinary  z  ,  the  Attic  x^r,  Cvy°v  thus  appealing 
ju  Boeotian  ae  Deus,  dugon.     It  has  Left  but  few  literary  remains. 

Thesealian  also  was  included  in  the  iEolic  group;  it  was  con- 
sidered at  Atheii  i  a  rude  dialect,  but  has  left  scarcely 
anything  whereby  to  judge  of  its  true  character. 

Doric  was  spoken  in  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Peloponnesus,  in 
Crete,  and  in  the  Greek  colonies  in  Sicily,  Libya,  and  Southern 
[taly.      Pindar  wrote  in   Doric,  which   was  also  the  language  of 

*  Alirena,  "  De  Gnocao  Liuguas  Dialcctis."   2  vols.     Gottiugcn,  1881MB. 

P  2 


212  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

pastoral  poetry.  It  is  subdivided  into  two  branches,  of  which  one 
is  more  severe  than  the  other.  It  retained  the  digamma,  as  well  as 
the  organic  t,  which  in  the  classic  language  becomes  s ;  hence  SiScon 
(for  SiSojo-i)  and  {wan,  \eiKan  (for  eiKoa-i)  =  twenty. 

Of  the  Ionic  there  were  two  periods — the  old,  or  epic,  embracing 
the  language  of  Homer  and  Hesiod,  and  the  new  period,  represented 
by  Herodotus.  It  was  spoken  in  certain  districts  of  Asia  Minor, 
in  Attica,  and  in  a  great  many  of  the  islands. 

Many  writers  connect  Attic  with  Ionic,  from  which  indeed  it 
differs  so  little,  that  it  may  be  considered  an  Ionic  dialect.  It  was 
the  language  of  Athens,  the  mother-tongue  of  ^Eschylus,  Sophocles, 
Euripides,  Aristophanes,  Thucydides,  and  Demosthenes ;  it  was  the 
dialect  that  ultimately  prevailed  over  all  the  others,  and  that  the 
reformers  of  the  Greek  language  ever  look  to  as  their  standard.* 

Each  dialect,  as  stated,  had  its  OAvn  literature  ;  still  the  Attic 
dialect  gradually  gained  the  ascendant,  thus  becoming  the  common 
written  language,  17  kolvtj  8m\€ktos,  of  all  Greek-speaking  races.  But 
this  somewhat  unnatural  expansion  was  precisely  the  cause  of 
its  decay  and  corruption.  As  spoken  by  Greeks  outside  Attica,  and 
more  especially  by  the  "  barbarians,"  the  "  common  dialect "  Avas 
no  longer  what  it  had  been  in  Athens ;  it  gradually  became 
"  Byzantine,"  the  Byzantine  language  of  medieval  times. 

Out  of  this  grew  the  Modern  Greek,  to  which  has  been  given 
the  name  of  Romaic,  a  reminiscence  of  the  eastern  empire  of 
Kome.  But  it  is  an  unfortunate  misnomer,  apt  to  lead  to  con- 
fusion, and  which  we  have  therefore  discarded. 

The  position  of  modern  in  relation  to  ancient  Greek  can  scarcely 
be  compared  with  that  of  the  Bomance  tongues  in  relation  to  Latin. 
These  have,  in  truth,  departed  far  more  from  their  common  source 
than  the  Greek  of  the  present  day  has  from  that  of  antiquity. 
Modem  Greek,  however,  includes  a  great  many  dialects,  differing 
perceptibly  from  each  other ;    and  these  are  met  with  not  oidy  in 

*  Thus  Dr.  Donaldson  remarks  that  a  Greek  scholar  should  aim,  not  at 
being  a  Hellenist  merely,  but  at  being  an  Atticist,  as  the  highest  type  of 
Helenic  literature.     "  Greek  Grammar,"  p.  4.— Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD    FORM    OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  213 

the  islands  but  also  in  the  mainland,  as,  for  instance,  the  Zaconic, 
spoken  in  the  heart  of  the  Morea.  But  the  literary,  or  common 
form,  is  really  but  little  removed  from  the  Hellenic  as  written 
2,000  years  ago.  It  is  this  very  resemblance  that  has  suggested  to 
some  Greeks  the  idea  of  a  reformation,  based  on  a  return  to 
the  forms,  and  even  the  very  expressions,  of  the  language  of 
Thucydides.  J  kit  nothing  coidd  be  less  practical,  and  any  such 
attempt  must  end  in  failure.  The  present  Greek  differs  doubtless 
but  little  from  the  classic ;  still  the  difference  is  very  marked  and 
clearly  defined.  Thus,  it  has  lost  both  the  dual  and  the  dative, 
this  last  being  employed  only  in  the  more  elevated  style,  and  could 
not  be  used  in  conversation,  or  even  in  current  literature,  without 
affectation.  The  old  infinitive  in  eiv  (e\detv  =  to  come)  has  also 
disappeared  everywhere  except  from  the  pseudo-classic  literature. 
It  is  usually  replaced  by  a  conjunctive  form,  as  in  0eAa>  va  e\65>  = 
I  wish  to  come ;  literally,  "  I  wish  that  I  come."  The  future  has 
also  become  analytical,  being  expressed,  amongst  other  ways,  by 
the  present  preceded  by  a  conjunction.  The  Greek  conjugation 
presents  many  other  instances  of  a  decided  transition  to  the 
analytic  state,  which  need  not  here  be  dwelt  upon. 

It  is  further  distinguished  from  the  old  Greek  by  a  feature 
which,  though  not  affecting  accidence  itself,  is  not  the  less 
important.  A 'rem  has  here  taken  the  place  of  quantity.  In 
other  words,  it  is  the  accented  syllable  in  modern  Greek  that  is 
long,  and  the  unaccented  one  short.  This  phenomenon  is  not 
peculiar  to  Greek,  and  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  Teutonic 
tongues  we  shall  see  that  it  also  constitutes  one  of  the  features  of 
modern  <  Icrnian.  In  Middle  High  (iernian  (twelfth  to  fifteenth 
century),  the  radical  syllable  was  sometimes  Long,  sometimes  short; 
while  in  the  present  language,  being  accented,  it  is  always  Long — 
all  which  is  quite  a  modern  tendency. 

Greek  Ls  Bpoken  not  only  in  Greece,  but  also  in  many  parts  of 
Turkey,  a  □  I  hi  aly,  where  it  comes  in  contact  with  Albanian  to 
the  we- 1  and  Bulgarian  towards  the  nrnth.  It  is  spread  overall 
the  northern  coast  of  the  iEgean,  and  makes  the  complete  circuit 
of  the  gea  of  Marmora,  reaching  at  some  points  far  inland,  as,  for 


214    ,  THIKD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

instance,  to  Adrianople  in  Rumelia.  In  Candia  it  reigns  every- 
where supreme,  except  in  a  single  central  district  occupied  by 
Turkish.  Altogether  the  Greeks  in  the  Ottoman  Empire  are 
estimated  at  about  1,000,000.  In  Russia  also  Greek  is  spoken,  on 
the  north  coast  of  the  Sea  of  Azov,  at  two  points  between 
Taurida  and  the  Don  Cossacks.  It  further  occupies  the  three 
shores  of  Asia  Minor,  from  a  point  opposite  Cyprus  as  far  as  the 
mouth  of  the  Kizdirmak  in  the  Black  Sea  (a  little  to  the  east  of 
Sinope). 

We  come  now  to  a  secondary,  though  not  uninteresting,  question 
— that  of  the  pronunciation  of  ancient  and  modern  Greek. 

jSTo  less  than  six  characters — three  simple  and  three  compound — 
answer  in  modern  Greek  to  the  sound  of  i  (ee).  These  are  rj,  i,  v ; 
6i,  oi,  vi,  the  other  vowels  being  pronounced  as  written.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  groups  av,  ev,  rjv,  ov,  are  pronounced  av,  ev,  ir,  ov. 
In  the  consonants,  &  answers  to  the  English  th  hard,  as  in  three ; 
S  to  the  English  th  soft,  as  in  the  ;  </>  sounds  as  /;  x>  as  the  ch  of 
the  German  words  noeJi,  nach,  bueh,  or  as  that  of  ich,  fechten, 
according  to  the  accompanying  vowels ;  y  before  e  or  t  as  the  French 
or  English  //. 

There  is  obviously  a  great  difference  between  this  pronunciation 
and  the  so-called  classic,  attributed  to  Erasmus;  yet  there  is  a 
wide  school  of  Hellenists  who  consider  that  the  modern  Greek 
pronunciation  should  be  applied  to  the  ancient  language,  and  who 
are  zealously  agitating  for  this  change,  absolutely  unscientific  though 
it  be.  To  read  Greek  in  this  modern  fashion  is  a  mistake,  as 
►Schleicher  very  justly  remarks,  due  to  complete  ignorance  of  the 
laws  of  phonetics  and  of  the  life  of  human  speech.  And,  in  truth, 
the  theory  is  utterly  indefensible  by  any  a  ■priori  or  a  posteriori 
arguments. 

A  mere  comparison  of  ancient  Greek  with  the  cognate  Aryan 
tongues  shows  that  the  sounds  c,  i,  u,  answered  to  the  vowels  a,  i,  if, 
and  were  accordingly  from  the  first  perfectly  distinct,  having  only 
gradually  become  idtimately  all  three  confused  in  the  single  sound 
of  i.  The  mutual  transcription  of  the  Greek  -q  by  the  Latin  c,  and 
of  the  Latin  e  by  the  Greek  n  clearly  shows  that  the  sound  of  the 


Chap,  v.]        THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  215 

old  Greek  ?/  was  not  that  of  ».  Thus  we  find  Krjvo-cop,  AvprjXiovs  for 
censor,  Aurelius.  Nor  can  it  he  doubted  that  the  vowel  u  was 
anciently  in  Greek  pronounced  like  the  Latin  u  (or  English  oo) j 
during  the  classic  period  it  answered  to  the  French  u*  while  the 
diphthong  ov  (that  is  o  +  u)  was  reduced  during  the  same  epoch  to 
the  simple  vowel  u  (or  oo).  Thus  the  Latin  words  Tititts,  tuum, 
circuitum  are  translated  in  Greek  as  Tmovr,  rovop,  Kipicovirovp.  It 
is  no  less  certain  that  originally  the  Greek  /3  was  uttered  like  our  A, 
and  not  like  v,  as  it  now  is.  Lx  the  classic  Greek  writings  the 
bleating  of  sheep  is  denoted  by  £9,  £»?,  which  it  woidd  he  ricUcidous 
to  pronounce  vi,  vi.  At  a  certain  period  no  doubt  the  Greeks  took 
to  transcribing  the  Latin  v  by  then*  0 ;  but  they  had  previously 
denoted  it  by  ov,  as  hi  Ovappco,  OvaXepLos,  OvepyiXios,  for  Varro, 
Valerius,  Virgilius,  &c.  The  change  of  b  to  v  took  place  probably 
at  an  early  period,  at  least  in  some  dialects,  but  originally  b  had 
everywhere  its  true  and  proper  sound.  When  the  Greeks  began 
to  transcribe  Latin  names,  their  0  was  far  from  having  always  and 
where  its  present  value,  for  at  this  very  time  it  is  still  regularly 
:  to  transcribe  the  Latin  b,  and  it  is  only  in  connection  with  ou 
oi  o  that  it  is  at  this  period  employed  to  represent  the  Lathi  r.i 

Lastly,  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  utterance  of  the  old 
aspirates  <f>,  6,  x>  which  had  the  sound  of  p,  t,  k  aspirated,  that  is: 
p  +  h,  t  +  lt,  k  +  h  (as  in  the  English  shep-herd,  hit-Aim,  hach-him, 
or  better  still,  in  the  Urdu  phul  =  blossom,  thorn  =  little,  and 
khand  =  to  eat),  so  that  these  letters  in  no  way  answered  to  the 
English  th  hard,  to/,  or  to  either  of  the  two  ch  sounds  in  Genua n. 
These  consonants  are  now  no  doubt  fricatives,  but  they  were 
originally  true  aspirates,  which  might  be  easily  proved  in  many 
ways.}  One  proof  maybe  drawn  from  the  shifting  nature  of  the 
aspirates  accompanying  the  simple  explosives  p,  /,  /,-.     Thus  the 

*  This  is  also  the  opinion  of  Mr.  A.  J.  Ellis,  for  which  see  a  led  ore  by  him 

on  Greek  Pronunciation,  delivered  ai  the  College  of  Preceptora,  in  L875,  and 

'Educational  Times"  of  January,  1876.  -Note  by  Tram  lator. 

t  G.  Gun  in-,  '■  Gnmdzuge  der  Gricchischen  Etymologic,"  liii  ed.  D,  571. 
Leipzig,  L873. 

X  Ibid.,  p.  l\C. 


216  THIRD   FORM  OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

reduplication  of  the  theme  6e  gives  Tidepev  (not  6idep.ev\ ;  and  so  with 
the  reduplication  of  </>  and  x  by  tt  and  k.  In  the  same  way  the 
Sanskrit  reduplicates  dh,  bh  by  the  simple  unaspirated  explosives 
d,  h,  as  in  dadhdmi  =  I  put,  bub/tdu  =  l  have  shone.  In  forms  like 
Tpe</)co,  I  nourish,  and  dpe^a,  I  will  nourish,  the  shifting  nature  of 
the  aspirate  is  equally  obvious.  Here,  as  in  the  preceding  case, 
the  (p  and  6  are  evidently  not  fricatives,  but  real  aspirated  explosives ; 
and  to  this  the  Sanskrit  forms  bandhami,  I  bind,  and  bhatsydmi, 
I  will  bind,  are  perfectly  analogous.  It  may  also  be  remarked  that 
certain  dialects  readily  displace  the  aspirate  in  the  body  of  the 
word,  the  ordinary  Greek  evravda,  x^av  becoming  evOavra,  kiBcov.  The 
Barbarians  introduced  on  the  stage  by  Aristophanes  are  made  to 
replace  the  Greek  aspirates  (p,  6,  x  by  the  simple  unaspirated  p,  t,  Tc, 
which  is  again  conclusive  as  to  the  real  sound  of  these  letters. 
Another  similar  argument  is  deduced  from  the  way  in  which  the  old 
current  Latin  renders  these  same  Greek  aspirates,  which  it  does  by 
simply  dropping  their  aspirates ;  and  even  in  the  fourth  century 
Gothic  represents  the  Greek  x  by  a  Jc. 

Lastly,  many  modern  Greek  dialects  have  a  pure  unaspirated 
rxplosive  instead  of  the  aspirated  consonant  of  the  literary  language. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  dialects  in  this  reflect  a  very 
ancient  period,  which,  for  the  rest,  is  often  enough  the  case  with 
dialects.  In  a  word,  the  old  Greek  aspirates  had  uncpiestionably 
the  force  of  p  +  It,  t  +  h,  lc  +  h,  passing  in  later  times  only  to  the 
fricative  order  of  letters.* 

It  would,  hoAvever,  be  idle  to  attempt  to  fix  the  ej)och  when  the 
change  in  the  pronunciation  of  Greek  was  brought  about.  Speaking 
generally,  two  principles  were  at  work  in  effecting  these  various 
changes — time  and  place.     Some  modifications  occurred  at  one  time 

*  At  the  same  time  it  is  not  easy  to  understand  how  these  aspirates 
could  have  been  so  pronounced  when  found  in  juxtaposition,  as  in  e\(^6r)u 
—  elekhtlien,  or  when  followed  by  a,  p,  or  other  consonants,  as  in  ^pt^0^fi? 
=  'klirim$'ht}ieis.  Nor  is  the  difficulty  at  all  diminished  if  recourse  be  had 
to  the  archaic  spelling,  as  in  emcpa-efpto,  e8ox<rev,  occurring  on  the  recently- 
discovered  treaty-stone  between  Athens  and  Chalkis  in  Euboea,  and  which 
would  have  to  be  somehow  pronounced  epip-hsep-hio,  edoJchsen,  which  seems 
intolerably  harsh. — Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD    FORil   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  217 

in  one  place,  which  were  not  effected  in  others  till  long  after,  and 
which  in  yet  another  place,  may  have  been  already  long  previously 
established.  Hence,  in  studying  the  old  Greek  pronunciation, 
special  details  only  can  be  taken  into  account.  Later  on  the  results 
of  these  special  investigations  may  perhaps  be  collected,  and  some 
general  deductions  drawn  from  them.  Meanwhile,  however,  it  will 
be  wise  to  keep  to  the  so-called  Erasmian  pronunciation,  faulty 
though  it  be,  in  preference  to  the  still  more  defective  modern 
system. 

§  5.— The  Italic  Branch. 

Until  the  bases  of  comparative  Aryan  grammar  were  definitely 
settled,  Latin  and  the  other  ancient  Italic  idioms  allied  to  it  may 
well  have  been  supposed  to  derive  from  the  Greek  language  One 
of  the  residts  of  the  great  work  of  Bopp  was  precisely  to  show 
that  Latin  no  more  derived  from  Greek  than  did  Greek  from 
skrit;  and  that  all  three  flowed  from  a  common  source,  from  the 
mother-tongue,  whence  also  sprang  the  Iranic,  Slavonic,  Lettic, 
Teutonic,  and  Keltic  groups.  Comparative  grammar,  in  fact, 
teaches  us  that  Lathi  teems  with  forms  more  ancient  than  the 
corresponding  Greek  ones.  In  its  phonetics,  for  instance,  Latin 
retains  the  initial  s,  which  Greek  changes  to  a  rough  breathing,  as 
in  septem,  sex,  socer  compared  with  inra,  i£,  eicvpos.  It  retains  also 
the  old  semi-vowel  y  (represented  by  j),  where  Greek  changes  it 
either  to  z  (sounded  dz)  or  to  the  rough  breathing :  jecur,  jug 
contrasting  favourably  with  w°p}  Cvy°v-  In  the  same  way  the 
primitive  k,  in  Greek  often  changed  tojp  and  t:  quinque,  quis  being 

ilder  than  Tvefint,  ns. 

It  i-  of  course  by   systematic  comparison  alone  with  the  other 
Ai;.  in  tong  i      thai    we  can  ascertain  the  purity  of  these  differenl 
i  1  the  corrupt  state  of  their  Greek  equivalents. 
In    its  declension  also  we   find  that    Latin   has    preserved   the 
ingular,  no  longer  known  to  the  Greek,  while  in  its  conju- 
gation the  - 'iid  person  plural  suffix   is   more  correel   than    the 

Greek  :  estis    you  are,  coming  nearer  to  the  organic  astasi  than  do 
'.    ek  core,  the  Lithuanian  <•-/<,  or  the  Sanskrit  atha. 


218  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

On  tlie  other  hand,  it  is  often  surpassed  by  Greek,  especially  in  the 
conjugation,  Avhere  the  latter  has  better  preserved  the  primitive 
tenses.  Thus  both  have  their  strong  and  weak  points  ;  so  that,  after 
all,  neither  of  them  can  boast  of  being  more  correct,  purer,  or  older 
than  its  congener. 

In  this  section  we  shall  have  to  treat  successively  of  the  old 
Italic  tongues — Latin,  Umbrian,  &c. — and  of  the  Eomance  or  neo- 
Latin  languages,  now  spoken  in  the  south-west  of  Europe,  and  on 
the  Lower  Danube. 

(1)  Primitive  Italic  Languages. 

Latin  is  the  great  representative  member  of  this  group.  Com- 
pared Avith  it  the  Oscan  and  Umbrian  play  but  an  insignificant 
part,  though  they  cannot  be  altogether  overlooked.  A  number  of 
other  idioms  belonging  to  this  same  family  were  also  spoken  in 
Italy,  but  being  still  almost  unknown  Ave  shall  have  to  pass  them 
over  unnoticed.  ]S"or  shall  Ave  here  speak  of  the  Etruscan  language, 
Avhich  may  possibly  have  been  a  member  of  this  group,  and  sister 
to  the  Latin,  Oscan,  and  Umbrian.  But  in  our  opinion  this  re- 
lationship is  not  yet  sufficiently  established  to  allow  of  its  being 
unreservedly  accepted.  We  shall  refer  to  it,  hoAveA~er,  after  con- 
cluding our  survey  of  the  different  Aryan  groups,  and  shall  then 
include  it  amongst  the  Aryan  tongues,  whose  classification  has  not 
yet  been  finally  settled. 

The  old  Latin  forms,  occiirring  down  to  the  middle  of  the  third 
century  before  our  era,  that  is,  before  the  time  of  the  first  Punic 
war,  and  knoAvn  to  us  by  a  number  of  inscriptions,  do  not  differ 
essentially  from  the  classical  Latin  forms.  The  differences  that  do 
occur  are  mainly  phonetical,  and  affecting  more  particularly  the 
voAvel  system. 

Classical  Latin  may  at  once  be  said  to  differ  from  the  older  tongue 
by  a  very  marked  tendency  to  reduce  the  ancient  diphthongs  to  simple 
voAvels ;  in  fact  it  is  more  than  a  tendency,  it  is  a  decided  and  very 
prominent  feature,  from  Avhich  the  diphthong  ait.  almost  alone  has 
escaped,  the  others  nearly  everywhere  becoming  long  A'OAvels.  Thus 
the    old  Latin  forms :    loumen,  jous,    oiniis,    oitile,  ploeres,  ceivis, 


Chap,  v.]        THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  219 

leiber,  veicus,  become  in  classic  Latin  :  lumen,  jus,  vnus,  utile, 
plures,  civis,  liber,  metis.  At  the  time  of  the  Gracchi,  a  hundred 
and  thirty  years  before  our  era,  the  old  diphthong  ai  had  definitely 
become  ae,  which  <ie  in  its  turn  changes  to  e,  at  first  in  the  popular 
speech  before  the  Christian  era.  and  then  in  the  written  some 
three  or  four  centuries  later  on.* 

Certain  changes  of  the  simple  vowels  effected  during  the 
transition  from  old  to  classic  Latin,  though  relatively  of  less  con- 
sequence, must  still  be  regarded  as  characteristic  Thus  o  occa- 
sionally becomes  e,  as  in  verto,  vester,  for  the  older  vorto,  voder; 
u  becomes  i  as  in  opUmus,  decimus,  memcipium,  replacing  optumus, 
decumus,  mancupium;  i  becomes  e,  as  in  navem  for  navim.  These 
various  changes,  besides  a  considerable  number  of  analogous 
variations,  are  doubtless  not  regulated  by  special  laws,  nor  are  they 
as  uniform  as  the  contraction  of  the  primitive  diphthongs  into 
simple  vowels ;  still  they  produce  a  certain  general  effect  which 
cannot  be  mistaken  by  those  at  all  accustomed  to  the  ordinary 
classic  forms. 

The  euphonic  laws  affecting  the  Latin  vowels  are  far  from 
numerous.  An  organic  a  changes  readily  to  e  before  a  nasal  in 
final  syllables,  as  in  septem,  nomen,  patrem;  after  v  it  usually 
becomes  o,  as  in  vomo,  vos,  volvere,  volo,  and  at  times  even  before 
,-,  as  in  novus,  oris.  A  comparison  with  the  other  Aryan  tongues 
show-  that  here  the  o  replaces  a  in  the  primitive  Aryan  tongue.  In 
other  respects  the  Latin  vowel  scheme  is  of  the  simplest,  closely 
resembling  the  Greek,  which  differs  mainly  from  it  by  its  more 
I  J  retention  of  the  ancieni  diphthongs. 

on  tb  other  hand,  the  Latin  consonantal  system  is  more  faithful 
than  the  Greek  to  the  primitive  type.  Lithuanian  alone,  of  all  the 
Aryan  tongues,  has  better  than  Latin  preserved  the  organic  s  of  the 
common  mother-tongue.  In  Latin  it  at  times  becomes  r  between 
two  vowels,  as  in  generis,  genitive  of  germs,  or  at  the  end  of  words, 
as  in  arbor  for  the  older  arboe.     But  this  solitary  modification  is  of 

*  CorKsen,   "  Ueber  Aussprarhe,  YokalisrniiH   and    BetomiSg  der  L:\v  hi- 

ischen  Bpraohe,"  2nd  ed.,  i.  p.  G'J5.    Leipzig,  1868. 


220  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

far  less  consequence  than  the  development  of  so  many  new  frica- 
tives peculiar  to  Greek,  Slavonic,  Iranic,  and  Sanskrit. 

While  Greek  changed  to  the  sharp  aspirates  ph,  th,  Teh,  the  soft 
bh,  <lh,  gh,  of  the  common  Aryan  tongue,  Latin,  especially  in  the 
middle  of  the  word,  rendered  them  in  principle  by  the  correspond- 
ing unaspirated  explosives  b,  d,  g,  as  in  nubes,  lingo,  compared  with 
the  Greek  ve(f>os,  A«xw.  But  it  modified  these  primitive  aspirates 
in  two  other  ways,  especially  at  the  beginning  of  words,  where  they 
become  sometimes  h  and  sometimes  /.  Thus  fero  =  I  bear,  answers 
to  the  Greek  fopa  and  the  Sanskrit  bharami.  At  times  both  forms 
occur,  as  in  Jiordeum  and  fordeum  =  barley ;  horda  and  forda. 
This  change  of  the  primitive  aspirates  to  h  and/  has  been  variously 
explained,  but  the  point  is  not  yet  quite  cleared  up. 

Another  peculiarity  of  Latin  phonetics  is  the  change  of  d  to  I : 
lacrima  =  teax,  levir  =  brother-in-law,  lingua  —  tongue,  olere  =  to 
smell,  for  the  older  dacrima,  devir,  &c.  This  explains  a  number  of 
double  forms,  such  as  impelimenta  and  impedimenta;  delicare  and 
dedicare,  olere  and  odor. 

The  Latin  consonants  are  readily  affected  by  the  niceties  of  at 
least  a  rudimentary  system  of  assimilation.  This  is  often  partial 
only,  as  in  actus,  where  c  stands  for  g,  as  seen  in  ago ;  but  it  is 
sometimes  complete,  as  in  summus,  where  the  mm  stand  for  pm,  as 
shown  by  super,  supremus.  Again,  if  a  word  begin  with  two  con- 
sonants, the  first  of  these  often  disappears.  Thus  notus,  nomen 
were  formerly  preceded  by  a  ;/,  as  shown  by  the  compounds  cognosco, 
cognomen.  At  the  beginning  of  words  also  the  group  dv  may 
change  to  b,  as  in  bis  and  bonus,  for  the  older  forms  dvis,  dvonus, 
while  bellum  and  dvellum  coexist. 

With  regard  to  the  pronunciation  of  Latin,  we  may  remark  that 
it  is  a  question  many  have  essayed  to  solve  without  even  so  much 
as  suspecting  the  nature  of  the  conditions  on  which  its  solution 
depended.  ]STow,  however,  it  may  be  said  to  be  settled,  at  least  in 
a  general  way.  The  work  of  Corssen,  quoted  higher  up,  has  collected 
all  the  results  hitherto  arrived  at,  and  which  may  be  safely  looked 
on  as  conclusive.  On  the  pronunciation  of  a  good  many  consonants, 
p,  b,f,  d,  in,  n,  r,  I,  &c,  there  is  no  diversity  of  opinion,  so  that  we 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD    FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  221 

need  not  dwell  on  these,  and  our  remarks  will  be  restricted  to  such 
points  as  may  still  seem  to  present  any  doubt. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  before  the  vowels  a,  o,  u,  and  before 
consonants,  the  Latin  c  had  the  same  sound  as  k  ;  but  what  was  its 
pronunciation  before  e  and  i?  Did  it  sound  like  ch,  as  in  Italy,  or 
like  fo,  as  in  Germany,  or  like  s,  as  in  France  [and  England]  1  Did 
the  Latins  say  Chichero,  Tsitsero,  or  Sisero  ?  We  are  now  in  pos- 
session of  more  than  sufficient  materials  to  decide  this  point,  and 
the  transcription  of  foreign  words  in  Latin,  and  of  Latin  words  in 
foreign  languages,  ought  alone  to  remove  all  doubt.  The  Goths,  for 
instance,  when  borrowing  from  Latin  the  terms  lucerna,  farcer,  ace- 
tum,  changed  them  to  liilcnrrt,  TcarTcara,  aikeits,  while  the  Greeks 

Wrote   npiyyicnrta   TrarpiKiovs,  Krjvcrap,   Kevrvpia,   for  pr't ')/<■/ 'pin,  &C       On 

the  other  hand  the  Latins  at  all  times  represented  by  c  the  *  Greek, 
as  in  the  forms  Cerasus,  Cimcm,  Cecrqps,  and  Corssen  justly  con- 
cludes that  down  to  the  sixth  or  even  seventh  century  of  our  era 
the  Latin  c  had  the  force  of  k  before  all  the  vowels.*  Besides  the 
old  Latin  grammarians  t  never  say  that  the  sound  of  c  differs 
according  to  the  vowel  by  which  it  may  be  followed,  and  we  may 
feel  satisfied  that  if  it  was  at  all  changed  to  s  before  e  and  i  previous 
to  the  seventh  century,  this  took  place  in  the  vulgar  speech  or  in 
the  provincial  patois  alone. 

!:  Eore  i  pure,  that  is  followed  by  another  vowel,  as  in  jusHMa, 
8ervitium;  t  also  remained  hard,  not  till  much  later  on  becoming 
a  fricative,  at  least  in  Latin.  In  Oscan  and  Umbrian  the  change 
occurred  at  an  earlier  period,  but  was  not  regularly  adopted  in 
I  Latin  pronunciation  till  the  fifth  century,  although  traces  of 
it  occur  BO  early  as  the  third. 

The  letter*/  also,  before  the  vowels  e,  i,  may  with  equal  certainty 
lid  to  have  had  the  same  sound  as  before  a,  o,  u.  Later  on  it 
often  became  i,  but  only  in  the  vulgar  speech. 

*  i  >j).  cit.,  torn.  i.  p.  48. 

f  AmongBt  others  Quintilian,  whose  language  is  conclusive  <>f  tho  con- 
trary: Nam  ft  qmdem  in  oullis  verbi  atendum  puto,  nisi  quae  aignifioat, 
etiam  at  sola  ponatur:  boo  eo  non  omisi,  quod  quidem  earn,  quoties  a 
sequatnr,  neccssariam  credunt,  emu  Bit  c  Littera,  qua  ad  omnes  vooales  vim 
Buam  perferat.     "  [nBtitutiones,"  i.  7.— Note  by  Translator. 


222  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  t. 

The  aspirate  h  was  perhaps  distinctly  heard  at  a  certain  epoch, 
hnt  it  gradually  lost  its  force,  and  was  omitted  altogether  in  a 
numher  of  words,  snch  as  anser,  whoso  root  is  the  same  as  that  of 
the  Greek  xnv  [and  the  English  goose]. 

The  sound  of  j  is  not  at  all  doubtful,  being  always  like  our  y  in 
you.  On  this  point  the  evidence  of  Priscian  (sixth  century)  leaves 
no  room  for  equivocation. 

Altogether  a  reformation  in  Latin  pronunciation  is  perfectly 
feasible,  and  we  may  add  desirable,  though  we  cannot  hope  that  it 
ever  will  be  realised.*  It  is  well,  however,  that  hi  any  case  the 
pronunciation  of  the  classic  period  should  be  known,  and  especially 
that  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  cause  the  adoption  of  any  of 
the  systems  current  in  Italy,  France,  Germany,  or  elsewhere,  which 
are  all  alike  defective. 

Besides,  any  reform  of  the  kind  should  be  based  on  a  strict 
observance  of  the  laws  of  quantity.  In  Latin  there  successively 
prevailed  two  systems  of  accentuation.  The  second,  which  was 
that  of  classic  times,  was  regulated  by  quantity,  and  may  be  said 
to  have  been  extremely  simple.  The  fundamental  principle  was 
that  the  accent  should  fall  invariably  on  the  penultimate  syllable 
when  long,  as  in  candmus,  but  on  the  antepenultimate  when  the 
penultimate  is  short,  as  in  cdmmus.  This,  of  course,  in  case  the 
word  has  three  or  more  syllables,  for  in  words  of  two  syllables  the 
accent  falls  necessarily  on  the  penultimate  whatever  be  its  length. 
Thus  :  fecit,  nobis,  where  it  is  long ;  dens,  tenet,  where  it  is  short. 

Hence  the  accent  may  shift  its  place  in  the  declension  and 
conjugation  according  to  the  number  of  the  syllables,  as  in 
amdbimur  =  we  shall  be  loved,  where  it  falls  on  a  long  ante- 
penultimate, and  in  amabimini  =  you  will  be  loved,  where  it  falls 
on  a  short  antepenultimate.  In  fact,  in  these  two  examples  the 
penultimate  is  short,  and  it  is   the    quantity  of  this  syllable,  as 

*  In  England  such  a  reform  has  already  made  a  good  beginning,  and  has 
received  a  certain  stimulus  from  the  advocacy  of  Mr.  A.  J.  Ellis,  who  has 
embodied  his  views  in  a  valuable  little  work  entitled  "  Practical  Hints 
on  the  Quantitative  Pronunciation  of  Latin."  London,  1874. — Note  by 
Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  223 

stated,  that  decides  as  to  the  position  of  the  accent,  independently 
altogether  of  the  quantity  of  the  other  syllables. 

Hence,  in  order  to  settle  the  position  of  the  accent,  we  must  be 
first  acquainted  with  the  laws  of  quantity,  which,  however,  are 
neither  difficult  nor  numerous.  And  herein  precisely  lies  the 
advantage  of  the  practice  of  Latin  verse  in  schools,  as  the  only 
means  of  ascertaining  whether  the  learner  is  acquainted  or  not 
with  quantity.  If  he  knows  it,  he  can  also  place  the  accent, 
which  we  shall  see  plays  a  chief  part  in  the  formation  of  the. 
Kmnance  tongues,  and  especially  of  French,  in  which  the  very 
form  itself  that  the  word  has  assumed  depends  on  the  position  of 
the  Latin  accent. 

Eeturning  to  the  subject  of  grammar,  we  find  that  Latin  has 
lost  the  dual,  which  Greek  has  at  least  to  some  extent  preserved, 
and  is  therefore  so  far  superior  to  its  congener.  In  respect  of  the 
case-endings,  they  are  each  of  them  superior  in  some  points  and 
inferior  in  others.  We  have  stated  that  Greek  has  lost  the  old 
ablative  retained  in  Latin.  Here  the  organic  ending  was  t  for 
themes  ending  in  a  vowel,  and  in  Latin  this  t  has  become  <1,  whence 
the  forms :  sententzad,  preivatod,  magistratud,  marid.  However, 
tliis  d  die  I  at  an  early  period.     The  organic  form  of  the 

dative  singular  was  ai,  reduced  in  Sanskrit  to  e,  whence  in  Latin 
the  old  forms  pqpidoi,  Romanoi,  which  subsequently  became 
populo,  Romano.  The  organic  form  of  the  old  locative  was  i, 
which   is  ii"!   always  lost  in  Latin;    where,  however,  it   becomes 

/,  owing  to  a  secondary  Cause   thai,  we  are  not  here  c -erned 

with.  Anyhow,  '/<-//"',  humi,  belli,  are  true  locatives,  wrongly 
treated  in  grammars  as  genitives.  In  the  plural  we  may  notice  the 
total  disappearance  of  the  locative,  still  retained  in  Greek. 

Coming  to  conjugation  we  find  that  the  personal  endings  are 
red,  though  of  the  "Id  mi=  I,  of  the  pre  n  at 
tense,  tic  only  traces  n<>w  left  are  the  two  forms  sum  ami  inquam. 
Of  the  -; ".  primitive  ten"-  Latin  has  retained  the  present,  a  few 
reduplicate  perfects,  such  as  cecinimus  =  we  have  sung,  and  perhaps 
Inc.-,  of  the.  .simple  aoriflt.  lint  this  was  at  best  hut  little, 
•md  C6C0B  oily  had   to  fresh  formations.      The  perfecl 


224  THIRD   FORM   OF,  SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  t. 

in  si  (luxi,  clixi),  the  perfect  in  ui  or  vl  (monui,  amavi),  as  well  as 
the  imperfect  in  bam  (amabam),  the  future  in  bo  (amabo),  and  a 
number  of  other  analogous  formations,  were  all  amongst  those 
subsequently  developed.  But  we  cannot  dwell  upon  this  subject, 
and  will  merely  add,  that  of  the  old  Aryan  tongues  Latin  is  one  of 
those  that  have  given  birth  to  the  greatest  number  of  such  new 
forms,  some  of  which  may  doubtless  seem  even  superfluous. 

There  is  one  of  them,  however — that  of  the  middle,  or  passive, 
voice— which  cannot  be  passed  over  in  silence.  In  the  Italic,  as 
in  the  Keltic  tongues,  there  was  created  a  middle  voice,  which 
later  on  acquired  a  passive  sense,  and  which  was  formed  by  adding 
to  the  verb  the  reflective  pronoun.  Thus,  amor  stands  for  an  older 
form  amos,  which  again  stands  for  amo-se.  Lithuanian  also  has 
developed  a  middle  voice  by  an  analogous  process. 

Of  all  the  Italic  tongues,  sisters  to  the  Latin,  and  destined 
gradually  to  disappear  before  it,  the  Oscan  and  the  Umbrian  are 
the  most  important.  Umbrian  was  spoken  in  the  north-east  of 
the  peninsula,  and  the  Volscian  dialect  is  generally  believed  to 
have  been  allied  to  it.  Oscan  was  spoken  in  the  south,  and  was 
related  more  to  the  SabeUian  [or  Sanmite].  But  all  three,  Umbrian, 
Oscan,  and  Latin,  sprang  from  one  source ;  and  although  neither 
preceded  any  of  the  others,  still  a  comparison  of  their  phonetics  and 
of  their  forms  shows  that  of  the  three  Oscan  came  nearest  to  the 
common  type,  from  which  Umbrian  departed  more  even  than 
Latin. 

Oscan  was  spoken  in  Samnium,  in  Campania,  and  in  the  neigh- 
bouring districts,*  and  is  known  to  us  through  some  important 
inscriptions,  the  bronze  tablets  of  Agnone  and  Bantia  and  the 
Abella  Stone.  Oscan  is  particularly  distinguished  from  Latin  and 
Umbrian  by  its  careful  preservation  of  the  ancient  diphthongs, 
and  by  its  retention  of  the  organic  a  often  replaced  by  an  i  in  Latin. 
Thus  the  Oscan  coder  represents  the  Latin  inter.  These  are  not 
the  only  primitive  features  of  its  vowel  system,  but  they  may  be 
mentioned  as  the  most  striking.  With  regard  to  its  consonants, 
whde  in  some  respects  inferior,  it  is  also  often  superior  to  the 
*  Rabaste,  "De  la  Laugue  Osque."     Rennes,  1865. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  225 

Latin.  Its  inferiority  is  shown  especially  in  the  substitution  of 
p  for  the  primitive  k,  as  in  pam  for  the  Latin  quam.  Before  a  t  it 
replaces  k  by  h,  as  in  Ohtavis  for  the  Latin  Octavius.  But  in 
many  cases  its  superiority  is  very  marked.  Thus  it  does  not,  as  a 
ride,  change  the  s  to  /■,  as  Latin  does  ;  and  it  also  avoids  a  number 
of  assimilations,  writing  kenstur  where  the  Latin  has  censor  for 
censtor.  A  phonetic  peculiarity  distinguishing  it  from  Latin 
consists  in  its  frequent  change  of  the  organic  aspirates  to  /  in  the 
body  of  the  word,  a  change  which  in  Latin  scarcely  occurs  except 
with  initial  letters.  Thus  the  Oscan  sifei  stands  for  the  Latin 
sibi. 

Umbrian  we  are  acquainted  with  through  a  very  important 
monument,  the  bronze  tables  known  as  the  "Eugubine  Tables," 
from  Gubbio,  the  ancient  Eugubium,  where  they  were  discovered 
hi  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  (1446).  These  tables  for  a 
long  time  taxed  the  ingenuity  and  sagacity  of  the  old  linguists,  but 
it  was  reserved  for  Aufrecht  and  Kirchhoff  to  satisfactorily  de- 
cipher them,  reducing  their  grammar  to  a  scientific  basis,  in  a  work 
on  the  Umbrian  language,  to  which  all  subsequent  essays  on  the 
subjecl  are  largely  indebted.* 

The  Umbrian  vowel  system  is  more  closely  related  to  the  Latin  than 
is  tli'- 1  >scan,  while  showing  a  still  greater  tendency  than  the  former  to 
reduce  the  ancient  diphthongs  to  a  single  vowel ;  and,  what  is  still 
mure  remarkable,  it  frequently  omits  many  vowels  altogether. 
'J'h'is  it  lias  nmiiiir  for  the  Latin  iimniiii.  Like  the  Oscan  it  some- 
times changes  the  primitive  k  to  />,  whence  pis  for  the  Latin  guts. 
As  in  Oscan  also  it  substitutes/  for  the  organic  aspirates,  which  in 
Latin  become  simple  explosives,  whence  the  Umbrian  tefe,  ife, 
answering  to  the  Latin  tibi,  ibi.  As  in  Oscan  also  it,  changes  the 
->  /,/.  to  l>t.  rehte,  corresponding  to  the  Latin  recte.  In  certain 
the  primitive  d  becomes  /■,  which  seems  to  have  had  a  some- 
what peculiar  utterance,  and  which  is  usually  denoted  by  a  dot 
underneath:  arveitu,  rere,  runum  thus  answering  to  the  Latin 
adv( I'll",  dedit,  <i<>itn>it. 

*"]iie  i  Sptachdenkm&ler,"  Berlin,  L849-51 ;  Andre  Leferrs, 

I.  Italiqucs  :  L'Ombrien,"  Paris,  1874. 


226  THIRD   FORM   OP   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

But  these  few  remarks  will  probably  be  sufficient  on  tlie  two 
Italic  tongues,  sisters  to  the  Latin,  from  which,  they  do  not  in  fact 
differ  essentially,  not  more  perhaps  than  do  the  various  Greek 
dialects  from  each  other,  and  certainly  much  less  than  the  neo- 
Latin  or  the  Keltic  languages  do  amongst  themselves. 

L,et  us  conclude  with  a  few  words  on  the  old  Italic  characters, 
which,  according  to  Corssen,  derive  all  of  them  from  two  Greek 
alphabets.  [Op.  cit.,  i.  p.  1.)  One  of  these,  the  old  Doric,  or 
some  allied  system,  would  seem  to  have  been  the  parent  of  the 
Samnite,  of  three  Etruscan  systems,  of  the  Umbrian,  of  the 
Euguhine  Tables,  and  of  the  Oscan  of  the  Abella  Stone.  All  these 
varieties,  except  the  last,  possess  two  signs  to  denote  the  s,  that  is, 
the  Greek  capital  sigma,  represented  either  in  the  usual  way,  or  else 
inclined  one  fourth  to  the  right,  so  as  to  look  like  a  sort  of  M. 

A  more  recent  Doric  alphabet  seemed  to  form  the  basis  of  the 
Falisean  and  the  Latin,  the  oldest  documents  of  which  last  date 
from  the  end  of  the  third  century  before  our  era.  The  old  Jc  had 
already  disappeared  except  in  certain  words,  the  c  having  long  de- 
noted as  well  the  sound  of  g  as  of  k,  and  being  at  last  replaced  for 
the  first  of  these  functions  by  the  new  letter  g,  itself  derived  by  a 
slight  modification  from  c.  From  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
to  the  middle  of  the  first  century  before  our  era,  that  is  for  about 
a  hundred  years,  the  practice  seems  to  have  prevailed  of  denoting 
the  long  vowel  by  doubling  it,  thus  aara,  ree,  Muucius  \fov  art i,  <te.]. 
About  a  century  before  our  era  the  long  i  was  denoted  by  giving  it 
a  longer  or  higher  form  than  that  of  the  other  letters  of  the  same 
word  :  dIvo,  vlcus ;  at  times  also  this  sign  was  employed  to  denote 
the  semi-vowel  j  (our  y  in  sound),  as  in  Ius,  maIor. 

In  the  middle  of  the  first  century  after  our  era  the  Emperor 
Claudius  essayed  to  enrich  the  Latin  alphabet  with  three  new 
letters.  In  order  to  distinguish  the  consonant  v  from  the  vowel 
he  proposed  to  denote  the  first  by  the  Greek  digamma  reversed. 
For  the  combinations  ps,  bs  he  suggested  an  inverted  c,  and  lastly 
the  sign  |—  for  the  sound  of  the  French  u,  that  had  been  introduced 
into  certain  words.  But  none  of  these  innovations  took  root,  and 
the  Roman  alphabet  remained  in  the  same  state  as  beret,  .fore. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD  FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  227 

(2)  Tlie  Neo-Latiii  Languages. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  a  strong  belief  prevailed, 
still  shared  in  by  many,  that  French  came  of  a  Romance  tongue, 
which  towards  the  end  of  the  [Western]  Empire  and  during  the  first 
centuries  of  medieval  times,  had  succeeded  to  its  direct  progenitor, 
Latin.  The  writings  of  the  illustrious  linguist  Eaynouard  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  the  spread  of  this  theory.  It  was  readily 
adopted ;  much  was  written  on  the  Romance  tongue  ;  its  texts 
were  commented  on,  and  many  still  persist  in  looking  on  the 
present  Provencal  as  this  Romance  idiom.  Eaynouard  had  un- 
fortunately trespassed  beyond  the  field  of  his  proper  hnguistic 
studies,  intruding  somewhat  rashly  and  without  method  on  the 
domain  of  philology ;  hence  his  theory  of  a  Romance  language  was 
fated  to  disappear  soon  after  its  author. 

Li  truth,  no  such  language  ever  existed,  nor  did  Latin  give  birth 
so  much  to  a  single  Eomance  form  as  to  several   leo-Latin  tongues. 

At  the  same  time  we  must  avoid  the  mistake  of  supposing  that 
new  idioms  are  merely  a  sort  of  corrupt  Latin.  They  are, 
on  the  contrary,  the  vulgar  or  popular  Latin,  as  spoken  in  Spain, 
Portugal,  France,  the  Grisons,  Italy,  and  on  the  Lower  Danube. 
Li  fact,  by  the  side  of  the  literary  standard  there  co-existed  an 
ordinary  current  Latin,  diffused  by  the  legionaries  and  the  settlers 
throughout  Iberia,  Gaul,  and  Dacia.  It  was  this  vulgar  speech 
that  became  gradually  modified,  reappearing  in  one  place  as 
Spanish,  in  another  as  French,  elsewhere  as  Rumanian,  just  as  in 
Italy  itself  it  became  Italian.  Meantime  the  literary  Latin,  be- 
comirj  id  less  intelligible  to  the  vulgar,  passed  at  last  to  the 

condition  of  an  ancient,  classic,  or  dead  langu 

"When  Latin."  says  M.  Littre,  "had  finally  caused  the  in- 
digei  of  Italy.  Spain,  and  Gaul  to  disappear,  there  was 

but  one  literary  standard  for  these  three  great  countries,  but  the 
vulgar  speech  (thai  is,  of  course,  the  Latin  mlgar  speech,  scarcely 
any  other  having  Burvived)  was  everywhere  respectively  different. 
This,  al  i  hai   the   Romance  bear  vritness  to  by 

their   very  existence.       Ead    Lati I    been    spoken   somewhal 

differently   in   each    place,   the   I    i  Bowing  from  it    would 

q  2 


228  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

possess  no  distinctive  features,  and  would  be  confused  together. 
But  these  Italians,  Spaniards,  and  Gauls,  having  all  alike  been 
brought,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  to  speak  Latin,  spoke  it 
each  of  them  with  their  own  peculiar  accent  and  sense  of  euphony. 
.  .  .  .  Those  great  regions  that  we  call  Italy,  Spain,  Provence, 
and  France,  stamped  their  special  character  on  this  language,  just 
as  those  smaller  districts  did  which  we  call  provinces.  And  these 
discrepancies  were  themselves  governed  by  laws  from  which  there 
was  no  escape.  These  laws  lie  in  the  geographical  position, 
involving  essential  and  characteristic  differences  amongst  the  in- 
habitants. French,  the  farthest  removed  from  the  Latin  centre, 
was  that  which  modified  it  the  most ;  I  speak  of  the  form  only, 
for  the  common  Latin  groundwork  is  as  pure  in  French  as  in  the 
other  idioms.  Provencal,  placed  by  the  lofty  Alpine  barrier  in 
the  Gaulish  zone,  but  on  its  verge,  is  intermediate ;  nearer  than 
French,  somewhat  less  so  than  Spanish,  to  the  Latin  form.  Spain, 
again,  skirting  the  Mediterranean,  and  so  closely  resembling  Italy 
in  its  soil  and  climate,  resembles  it  also  in  its  speech.  Lastly 
Italian,  being  placed  in  the  very  centre  of  Latinity,  reproduces  it 
with  the  least  change.  And  there  is  for  this  theory  of  the  for- 
mation of  Komance,  a  negative  proof,  which,  like  all  the  others,  is 
conclusive.  In  truth,  were  such  not  the  law  that  regulated  the 
geographical  distribution  of  the  Eomance  tongues,  Ave  should  here 
and  there  light  upon  some  break  in  the  type  peculiar  to  each  region, 
some  evidences  of  types  peculiar  to  other  districts.  Thus,  f <  >r  in- 
stance, in  the  French  domain,  in  the  remote  parts  of  Xeustria,  or  of 
Picardy,  Ave  should  meet  with  Provencal,  Italian,  or  Spanish  for- 
mations; in  the  heart  of  Spain  we  should  come  across  French, 
Provencal,  or  Italian  forms  ;  in  the  extremity  of  Italy  Ave  should 
encounter  Spanish,  Provencal,  or  French  peculiarities.  But  it  is 
not  so.  The  local  type  once  established,  undergoes  no  further 
deviation,  no  return  to  the  type  of  any  other  locality;  everything 
takes  place  regularly  under  the  local  influences,  AAdiich  may  be 
considered  partial,  Avhen  contrasted  with  those  of  the  larger 
regions."* 

*  "  Dictioimaire  die  la  LaDgue  Franchise,"  ;.  i.  p.  xlvii.     Paris,  18G3. 


Chap,  v.]         THIKD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  229 

This  Latin  origin  of  the  Romance  tongues  is  now  a  firmly-estab- 
lished fact,  that  can  no  longer  be  called  in  question.  The  grammar 
of  Frederick  Diez,  first  published  some  forty  years  ago,*  has  once 
for  all  disposed  of  those  Iberian,  Keltic,  or  other  theories,  which 
nevertheless  still  crop  up  from  time  to  time.  French  may  no  doubt 
be  derived  from  Keltic,  but  so  might  Latin,  in  the  same  Avay,  from 
Hebrew.  This  Keltomania  is  in  fact  a  thing  beyond  discussion, 
fur  it  rides  over  French,  Latin,  the  Keltic  languages  themselves ; 
ami  perhaps  this  is  its  only  excuse. 

But  we  do  not,  at  the  same  time,  deny  the  existence  of  a  tolerably 
important  foreign  element  in  the  neo-Latin  tongues.  French,  for 
instance,  possesses  a  certain  number  of  words  of  Keltic  origin  : 
arpent,  lime,  dune,  alouette;  but  even  this  element  is  far  from 
being  as  extensive  as  might  be  siipposed,  and  it  may  be  well  to 
remark  that  all  such  terms,  before  becoming  French,  were  first 
latinised;  that,  in  a  word,  they  passed  through  the  Latin  into  the 
French  language.  The  invasion  of  the  barbarians,  again,  introduced 
some  four  hundred  words  of  Teutonic  origin,  while  contact  with  the 
Easl  also  contributed  its  share  ;  but  the  grammar  remained  essen- 
tially Latin. 

There  are  reckoned  altogether  seven  neo-Latin  tongues  :  Portu- 
:_!!'•->■.  Spanish,  French,  Provencal,  Italian,  Ladin,  and  Rumanian. 
Befoi  ing    of    the    geographical    distribution    and    special 

features  of  each  of  these  idioms,  it  will  be  necessary  to  draw 
attention  to  two  leading  facts  which  form  the  groundwork  of  the 
whole  subject.  One  of  these  is  the  play  of  the  tonic  accent  in 
the  formation  of  the  neo-Latin  words;  the  other  is  the  transition 
from  Latin  declension  to  the  analytic  state  of  these  idioms. 

Of  all  the  members  of  this  group  it   may  be  said  in  a  general 

.  thai  the  formation  of  their  words  is  based  on  the  persistence 

of  the  tonic  accent.*}     The  accented  syllable  in   Latin  is  still  the 

yllable  in  French  and  Italian.     This  is  the  fundamental 

*  "Grammatik  der  EtomaniBohen  Sprachen,"  i^ml  ed.  Bonn,  L856-60. 

f  I ji t tii',  " Histoire  de  la  Langne  ITrancaise,"  6fch  ed.,  t.  i.  p.  -\~,  Paris, 

1 373;    '■•   Pi  Bfcnde  snr  le  R61e  de  L'Aoo        La  i  dans  la    Langae 

oaise,"  Pari  ,  L862. 


230  THIRD    FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Ciiap.  v. 

principle  which  remains  unaffected  by  secondary  laws.  Let  us 
illustrate  it  by  what  occurs  in  the  French  language. 

Side  by  side  with  the  continuance  of  the  Latin  accent,  French 
discloses  two  secondary  principles.  One  is  the  suppression  of  short 
unaccented  vowels  preceding  the  toned  syllable ;  the  other  is  the 
disappearance  of  certain  consonants  in  the  body  of  the  word.*  Thus 
the  accent  is  on  the  vowel  a  in  the  words  bonitdtem,  liberdre, 
sanitdtem,  and  it  remains  on  the  corresponding  vowel  in  the  French 
horde,  livrer,  sante,  and  we  see  that  in  these  three  examples  the 
unaccented  vowel  i  or  e  has  disappeared.  So  also  in  Her,  doner, 
the  middle  consonants  g  and  t  of  ligare,  and  dotare  have  dropped. 

Observe,  also,  that  French  sacrifices  everything  that  follows  the 
accented  syllable.  Its  masculine  final  syllables,  as  in  essaim, 
peupU,  hotel,  are  always  the  toned  syllables,  while  in  the  so-called 
feminine  endings,  as  in  meuble,  esclandre,  the  accent  is  still  on  the 
last  syllable  (here  eu  and  a),  because  the  final  is  now  silent, 
possessing  merely  an  artificial  existence  in  poetry.  Practically 
esclandre,  semaine  are  dissyllables,  whose  last,  that  is  an  and  at,  are 
toned. 

But  a  time  came  in  the  history  of  the  French  language,  when  the 
vocabulary  flowing  continuously  from  the  old  Latin  vulgar  tongue 
was  found  to  be  no  longer  sufficient,  and  then  such  terms  as  were 
needed  began  to  be  taken  bodily  from  classic  Latin.  But  this  fresh 
supply  could  not  of  course  be  subjected  to  the  fundamental  principle 
regnlating  the  play  of  the  tonic  accent,  any  more  than  to  the 
secondary  laws  affecting  medial  consonants  and  untoned  vowels. 
To  this  new  stock  the  name  of  "learned  words"  was  given,  as 
might  almost  seem  by  a  sort  of  bony,  while  that  of  "popular 
words "  was  applied  to  the  really  natural  and  genuine  French 
element.  Nor  was  the  fabrication  of  such  book-Latin  terms  limited 
to  those  the  want  of  which  really  existed,  but  a  crowd  of  others 
was  introduced,  which  had  already  assumed  a  popular,  correct,  and 
genuine  French  form.  Thus  the  accent,  for  instance,  is  on  the  first 
syllable  in  the  Lathi  debitum,  cancer,  and  in  French  these   two 

*  Brachet,  "  Gram.  Historique  de  la  Langue  Francaise,"  introduction, 
sect.  ii.     Paris. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  231 

words  were  regularly  modified  to  dette,  chancre  ;  but  the  "learned'' 
formation  again  adopted  them,  and,  neglecting  the  tonic  accent, 
fabricated  the  really  barbarous  forms  debit,  cancer  (where  the  tone 
falls  on  the  last,  thus  violating  the  fundamental  principle  regulating 
the  formation  of  French  words).  The  terms  operer,  cumuler, 
separer,  and  numbers  of  others  have  no  doubt  the  accent  on  the 
same  syllable  as  their  Latin  prototypes  qperare,  cumulate,  s&parare  ; 
but  they  are,  nevertheless,  mere  pedantic  and  secondary  forms 
when  compared  with  the  genuine  *■  n-< ,-.  rambler,  ouvrer,  which  (not 
only  preserve  the  accent  but  also)  omit,  as  they  ought  to  do,  the 
untoned  vowel  preceding  the  accented  syllable.  So  also  Her,  dauer, 
answer  exactly  to  the  Latin  ligare,  dotare,  of  which  the  coined 
forms  liguer,  doter,  retaining  the  middle  consonant,  are  merely 
arbitrary  imitatii  ins. 

We  come  now  to  tin-  second,  and  no  less  interesting  main 
feature  of  the  neo-Latin  tongues,  the  already-mentioned  transition 
from  the  synthetic-  Latin,  with  its  declensions  and  case-endings,  to 
the  analytical  state,  in  which  every  trace  of  declension  has 
vanished. 

In  the  oldest  Spanish  and  Italian  records  we  meet  with  languages 
already  reduced  to  complete  analysis  (that  is,  as  regards  nominal 
and  adjectival  declension,  the  verb  still  remaining  largely  synthetic). 
Bui  this  is  tli'-  case  neither  with  the  old  French  nor  with  the  old 
Provencal,  which  ai  a  certain  period  show  not  merely  the  traces  of 
ease-endings,  but  two  genuine  cases — the  nominative  and  the 
accusative.  "At  tin-  time."  writes  M.  Littre,  "when  a  modern 
ipeech  was  being  formed  in  Caul,  Latin,  as  still  spoken,  was  in  a 
peculiar  Btate  in  respect  of  its  rieh  declension.  It  employed  the 
nominative  correctly  enough j  butil  confused  the  remaining  cases, 
using  them  indifferently  ha-  each  other.  This  at  least  is  what  we 
timl  in  the  monuments  of  the  period,  which  teem  with  solecisms.* 

*  As  in  the  following,  where  we  have  the  accusative  for  the  ablative,  the 

masculine  genitive  fox  il"-  feminine  genitive,  the  ablative  for  the  acousativei 

and  the  accnaative  plural  is  w  forth  idea  d  for  i,  e  for 

t,  u  tor  o,  e  tor  i,  he.     "In  jure  adque  domenaoione  Sanoti   Maria  el  spun. 

i  Christi  iu  prsBdioto  loom  oontententig,"  which  should  ba  "In  jaaatque 


282 


THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.        [Chap.  v. 


The  new  language,  then  budding,  with  a  sort  of  instinct  infused 
regularity  into  all  this  chaos  by  retaining  the  nominative,  and  of  all 
the  rest  making  one  single  case — the  objective.  Hence,  in  its 
primitive  state,  French  was  not  an  analytical  tongue,  like  modern 
French,  or  like  Spanish  and  Italian  in  their  oldest  records.  It  had 
a  synthetic,  consequently,  an  older  character,  expressing  the 
relations    of   the    nouns   to    each    other  and  to  the  verb,  not  by 

prepositions,  but  by  true  cases It  is,  as  Ave  see,  a  sort 

(if  half  Latin  syntax,  which  Flench  has  in  common  with  Provencal, 
so  that  these  two  languages  of  Gaul,  possessing  each  of  them  two 
cases,  resemble  each  other  more  closely  than  they  do  either  Spanish 
or  Italian,  while  these  two  in  their  turn  are  more  nearly  akin  to 
each  other  than  they  are  to  the  Langue  cVdil  or  the  Larujuc  d'oe. 

"This  inheritance  of  two  cases,  and  of  a  half  synthetic  syntax,  was 
no  passing  feature  of  the  French  tongue,  leaving  behind  it  no  train's 
except  for  the  curiosity  of  the  learned.  It  continued  in  this  state 
fur  three  centuries,  from  the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth,  during 
which  this  syntax  formed  the  ride  of  the  written  and  the  spoken 
language.  Latin,  which  for  us  is  a  classic  tongue,  is  much  praised 
for  the  way  in  which  its  declension  directs  the  thought.  I  am  not 
discussing  the  relative  superiority  of  languages  with  and  without 
cases,  but  a  portion  of  this  praise  should  fall  to  the  share  of  old 
French,  whose  declension,  though  curtailed,  is  still  a  reality,  and 
which  on  this  account  ranks  so  far  with  Latin." — (Op.  cit.  ibid.) 

The  old  French  declension  is  very  simple.  In  the  case  of  forms 
answering  to  the  Latin  declension  in  us,  such  as  domains,  the 
nominative  singular  retains  the  s  of  this  ending  m ;  the  objective 
plural  also  ends  in  s,  which  again  corresponds  to  the  s  of  the  Latin 
accusative  plural  domino*.  The  two  other  forms,  that  is  the 
nominative  plural  and  the  accusative  singular,  remain  in  the  simple 
state  (the  corresponding  Latin  endings  of  domini  and  dominum 
here  simply  disappearing  in  virtue  of  the  accessory  laws  above 
explained  in  connection  with  the  tonic  accent). 

dominationem  Sanctce  Maria?  et  sponsarum  Christi  in  praedicto  loco  con. 
sistentium."  M.  J.  D'Arbois  de  Jubainville's  "D6clinaison  Latine  en  Ganle 
a  l'Epoque  Merovingienne,"  Paris,  1872,  p.  109. — Note  hy  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIED   FOEM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  233 

We  thus  get  the  subjoined  table  of  old  French  declension  : 

Singular — Nominative  :  li  chevals  =  caballus. 
Accusative  :    le  cheval  =  caballuui. 
Plural — Nominative  :    li  cheval  =  caballi. 
Accusative  :  les  chevals  =  caballos. 

We  shotild  exceed  our  limits  were  we  to  dwell  further  on  this 
subject,  nor  is  it  possible  here  to  give  a  complete  history  of  the  declen- 
sion of  the  Langue  d'oil  or  of  that  of  the  Langue  d'oc.  It  is  enough 
to  establish  the  fact  that  these  two  languages  had  a  period  of  true 
declension,  which  cannot  he  detected  in  the  oldest  texts  of  the  other 
II.  nuance  tongues.  Hence,  as  M.  Littre  remarks,  we  cannot  speak 
of  an  old  Spanish  or  an  old  Italian  language  in  the  same  sense  as 
we  can  of  an  old  French  and  an  old  Provencal  tongue. 

This  point  settled,  we  may  now  pass  in  rapid  review  each  of  the 
seven  branches  of  the  neo-Latin  family. 

(a)  French. 

The  indigenous  Keltic  idioms  had  in  tin"  first  century  of  our  era 
been  already  supplanted  in  Caul  by  tin'  vulgar  Latin  (that  is  by 
the  sermo  plebeius,  as  opposed  to  the  classic  standard).  This 
resull  was  brought  about  by  numerous  ami  irresistible  causes, 
foremost  amongst  which  was  the  strong  interest  the  Gauls  had  in 
assimilating  themselves  to  their  masters.  The  literary  Language 
al-o  was  sown  introduced,  and  the  Gaulish  schools,  developed  under 
Latin  culture,  acquired  a  well-earned  reputation.  Nevertheless, 
vulgar  Latin  alone  contributed  to  the  developmenl  of  the  popular 
speech,  which  derived  exclusively  from  it.  The  classic  language, 
for  instance,  wrote  urbe,  iter,  oeculari,  08,  hebdomas ;  hut  it  is  the 
popular  forms,  villa,  viaticum,  basiare,  bucca,  septimana,  that  re- 
appear in  tic-  modern  ville,  voyage,  baisei;  bouche,  semaine.  'I  lie 
•  of  the  French  language,  thai  is  of  the  Langue  d'oil,  at  thai 
t  an.-  wa  lingua  romana  rustica,  and  in  the  eighth  century  the  clergy 
preached  in  this  "lingua  rustica,"  which   was  the    French  oi    Hie 


234  THIRD   FORM    OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

period.  The  glosses  lately  discovered  at  Beichenau,*  and  which 
date  from  this  epoch,  are  the  oldest  French  texts  yet  discovered 
(being  anterior  even  to  the  famous  "  Serment  des  tils  de  Louis  le 
Debonnaire,"  which  bears  the  date  of  842). 

But  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries  were  the 
golden  age  of  the  Langue  d'oiL  "  Then  was  developed,"  says  Brachet, 
"an  absolutely  original  poetic  literature,  a  graceful  or  sparkling 
lyrical,  and  a  grand  epic  poetry,  of  which  the  '  Chanson  de  Eoland ' 
remains  the  most  perfect  example.  Italy,  Germany,  Spain,  adopt 
our  poetry  and  our  romances,  translating  or  imitating  them,  &c." — 
(Op.  cit.  ibid.) 

The  declension  with  two  cases,  as  above  described,  died  out  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  after  which  period  the  French  becomes  de- 
cidedly a  modern  and  analytic  tongue,  like  Italian  and  Spanish. 

From  the  moment  that  we  are  able  to  observe  it,  French  conjuga- 
tion seems  to  have  become  entirely  analytic,  f  Side  by  side  with  the 
tenses  flowing  from  the  Latin,  tenses  such  as  the  present  j' crime,  it 
developes  others  by  the  modern  process:  fed  aime,  favcds  aime. 
Such  also  is  the  origin  of  the  future;  aimerai  =  aimer  ai,  as  is 
placed  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  corresponding  old  Spanish  and 
Provencal  forms.  Besides,  classic  Latin  itself  recognised  this 
analytical  future  form,  expressions  such  as  dtcere  habeo  occurring 
even  in  good  writers.  The  conditional  j'aimerais  also  is  merely  an 
artificial  formation,  based  in  some  way  on  the  future. 

*  Found  in  1863  by  Holtzmann,  in  a  MS.  in  the  library  of  this  place.  It  is 
referred  to  the  year  768,  and  it  contains  many  contemporary  forms  explain- 
ing the  difficult  words  of  the  vulgate.  These  words  are  written  in  two 
columns,  thus  : 

Latin.  French  of  8th  century, 

tugurium  cabanna 

sindones  linciolo 

minas  manatees,  &c. 

(Note  by  Translator). 
f  This  is  certainly  an  extraordinary  statement.  Analytical  forms  have 
doubtless  been  added  to  the  French  verbal  system,  and  the  old  future  has 
perished.  But  enough  remains  to  render  French  conjugation  still  highly 
synthetic.  Thus,  it  retains  both  participles,  the  infinitive,  both  presents, 
both  pasts,  and  the  imperfect  indicative — all  purely  synthetic  forms. — Note 
by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIED  FOBH   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  35 

In  medieval  times  a  number  of  French  dialects  existed,  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  and  all  possessing  a  special  literature,  It 
could  scarcely  have  been  otherwise  under  the  feudal  system.  Still 
these  various  dialects  differed  mainly  in  their  phonetics.  Those  of 
Burgundy,  Picardy,  and  Normandy,  were  in  any  case  compelled  to 
give  place  to  that  of  the  Isle  of  France  after  the  famdy  of  the 
Capets  had  finally  chosen  Paris  as  the  centre  of  the  kingdom. 
Tiny  gradually  sank  to  the  position  of  mere  patois,  "in  which  a 
careful  study  still  detects  the  features  of  the  old  dialects  as  they 
existed  previous  to  the  literary  productions  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Hence  those  patois  are  not,  as  is  generally  supposed,  the  literary 
French  corrupted  in  the  mouth  of  the  peasantry  ;  they  are  the  re- 
mains of  the  old  provincial  dialects,  reduced  by  political  circum- 
stances from  the  position  of  official  and  literary  to  that  of  merely 
spoken  tongues."— (Brachet,  op.  clt.,  p.  47.) 

The  Wallon  dialect  maintained  its  independence  for  a  long  time. 
It  had  two  varieties,  that  of  Liege  and  that  of  Namur*  which  have 
been  wrongly  grouped  with  the  Picardy  dialect,  from  which  the 
Wallon  is  quite  distinct.  It  is  now  merely  a  patois^,  having 
yielded  in  common  with  the  other  medieval  dialects  to  the  literary 
standard. 

We  have  had  several  times  to  refer  incidentally  to  the  actual  limits 
of  the  French  language.  On  the  north  it  meets  the  Flemish  a  little 
above  Calais,  whence  it  stretches  through  Saint-Omer,  Armentieres, 
Tourcoing,  and  Ath,  to  Liege  and  Verviers.  On  the  east  it  is 
inclosed  by  the  German,  by  aline  including  Verviers,  Longwy, 
Metz,  Dieuze,  Saioi  Die,  Belfort,  Detemont,  Friburg,  and  Sion,and 
farther  Bouth  by  tin-  Italian.  In  the  centre  it,  now  occupies  the 
whole  domain  of  the  Provencal  dialects,  of  which  we  shall  pre- 
sently speak. 

1 1,  Switzerland  French  is  the  native  speech  of  about  600,000 
people,inthe  I  n  of  NeufchateL  Geneva,  Vaud,  the  greater 
part  of  Friburg  and  of  the  Calais,  and  a  fifth  of  Heme.  In  Belgium 
it  is  spoken  by  aboul  2,000,000,  occupying  the  whole  south-eastern 
portion  of  the  kingdom,  and   in  Germany  bj  over  200,000  about 

•Cluivr.-,    ' ■  I'.Mi.oi .■.<■!    Wallon.  '      Paris.   IS.77. 


236  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

Malmedy,  Metz,  and  Chateau-Salins.     It  is  also  still  spoken  in  the 
English  colonies  of  Mauritius  and  [parts  of]  Canada. 


(/3)  Provencal. 

The  opinion  of  some  writers  that  both  the  Langue  d'oil  and  the 
Langue  d'oc,  or  Provencal,  derive  indirectly  only  from  vulgar  Latin, 
through  an  intermediate  form  common  to  both,  rests  so  far  on 
nothing  hut  empty  and  utterly  ungrounded  statements,  and  we  may 
add  that  in  itself  it  is  highly  improbable.  The  current  Latin 
speech  cannot  have  modified  itself  uniformly  throughout  the  whole 
of  Gaul.  It  would  be  even  surprising  if  in  this  vast  region  it 
assumed  no  more  than  two  distinct  types,  those  of  the  Langue  d'oil 
and  the  Langue  d'oc.  Anyhow,  in  the  absence  of  all  proof  it  will 
be  prudent  to  doubt  whether  there  can  have  at  any  time  existed  a 
common  Franco-Provencal  speech.  The  northern  and  the  southern 
dialects,  no  doubt,  resemble  each  other  the  more  closely  the  more 
ancient  are  their  texts,  but  this  is  simply  because  the  older  they 
are  the  more  closely  do  they  approach  their  common  (vulgar  Latin) 
origin. 

Provencal,  as  already  observed,  had,  like  the  Langue  d'oil,  its 
semi-synthetic  period,  during  which  it  possessed  the  declension  with 
two  cases,  the  nominative  and  the  accusative.  Its  conjugation  is 
quite  as  analytic  as  that  of  the  Langue  d'oil,  and  it  is  in  Provencal 
that  we  meet  with  the  old  form  of  the  future  dir  vos  ai=je  rims 
(Urn!,  which  so  clearly  shows  the  mechanism  of  the  modern  tense. 

The  meaning  in  which  the  term  Provencal  is  used  is  now 
thoroughly  understood.  Here  a  part  is  taken  for  the  whole,  for 
the  language  of  Provence  proper  was  and  is  one  dialect  only  of  the 
Langue  d'oc,  which  includes  also  those  of  Languedoc,  Limousin, 
Auvergne,  Gascony,  and  part  of  Dauphiny.  The  question  has 
often  been  asked  whether  it  should  not  also  comprise  the  Cata- 
lonian,  at  present  spoken  in  Catalonia,  Valencia,  and  the  Balearic 
Isles,  and  formerly  diffused  thoughout  the  territory  of  Aragon,  or 
whether  this  variety  should  not  rather  constitute  a  distinct  neo- 
Latin  group  by  itself.     The  point  is  not  yet  settled,  nor  can  the 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  237 

view  be  altogether  condemned  which  includes  Catalonian  amongst 
the  Provencal  dialects. 

Provencal  literature  nourished  mainly  in  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  but  its  oldest  records  are  anterior  to  this 
period.  It  received  a  fatal  blow  with  the  defeat  of  the  Albigenses, 
after  which  French  gradually  encroached  upon  the  whole  country 
as  far  as  the  Pyrenees,  and  the  southern  dialects  have  now  fallen  to 
the  position  of  mere  patois,  unconnected  with  any  literary  language. 

The  actual  limits  of  the  northern  and  southern  patois  have  not 
been  very  carefully  determined.  The  last  information  on  the 
subject  fixes  the  extreme  frontier  of  the  Langue  d'oil  on  the 
west  at  Blaye,  Angouleme,  Confolens,  Montlucon,  and  Saint-Etienne. 
Towards  the  east  the  frontier  is  more  difficult  to  settle,  but  it 
seems  to  reach  the  Alps  a  little  above  Grenoble. 

(y)  Italian. 

As  known  to  us  even  in  its  oldest  records,  Italian  is  unques- 
tionably the  best  preserved  of  all  the  neo-Latin  tongues,  both  in  its 
structure  and  vocabulary.  Diez  calculates  that  not  a  tenth  part  of 
its  vocabulary  can  be  referred  to  other  than  Latin  sources.  If  so, 
this  would  certainly  be  not  a  little  remarkable;  but  in  any  case 
Italian  certainly  contains  far  less  German  terms  than  docs  the 
French. 

In  the  tenth  century  what  we  now  understand  by  Italian  was 
already  spoken — thai  i<  to  say,  the  vulgar  Latin  had  already  at 
this  epoch  been  sufficiently  modified  in  Haly  to  he  entitled  to  this 
name.  Hut  its  written  monuments  do  not  date  farther  hack  than 
the  twelfth  century,  nor  was  it  till  the  following  centurj  thai  the 
language  of  literature  was  developed  in  Tuscany  a  purely  literary 
language  that  never  was  spoken.*  Anyhow,  the  [talian  of  this 
period  hid  the  same  general  features  of  the  Italian  of  the  pre  enl 

*  This  i    .  (strong.     Amongst  the  educated  cla    es,  esp     ally 

in  Borne  and  Florence,  tic  oorreni  Bpeecfa  does  qoI  materially,  if  at  all, 
differ  from  the  ordinary  language  of  literature;  ami  certainly  all  educated 
foreig  [talian  adhere  verj  oloserj  to  the  literary  foi 

by  T 


238  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

day ;  so  that  there  was  no  old  Italian  in  the  sense  that  there  was 
an  old  French  and  an  old  Provencal  tongue. 

In  Italy  there  are  a  great  number  of  dialects — a  circumstance 
readily  explained  by  the  configuration  of  the  country.  These 
dialects  have  always  been  clearly  distinguished  from  each  other, 
and  in  his  treatise  "DeVulgari  Eloquio,"  Dante  reckons  fourteen 
altogether,  which  he  divides  into  eastern  and  western,  or  else  into 
cis-Apennine  and  trans-Apennine  dialects.  This  division,  however, 
has  been  advantageously  replaced  by  that  of  upper,  central,  and 
lower  Italian  dialects,  the  last  class  comprising  the  Neapolitan, 
Calabrian,  Sicilian,  and  Sardinian.  In  the  second  are  included 
the  Tuscan,  Koman,  and  Corsican ;  while  the  northern  division 
embraces  the  Genoese,  Piedmontese,  Venetian,  Emilian,  and 
Lombard  varieties.  Each  of  these  dialects  possesses  a  copious 
literature,  and  many  of  them  have  monuments  dating  from  the 
period  of  the  Renaissance,  while  some,  such  as  the  Neapolitan  and 
Sardinian,  are  still  older. 

Towards  the  north  Italian  crosses  the  political  frontier,  beino- 
spoken  by  a  population  of  about  140,000  in  the  Canton  of  Ticino, 
and  in  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the  Grisons  in  Switzerland.  In 
Austria  also,  in  a  portion  of  Southern  Tyrol,  as  well  as  in  a  narrow 
strip  along  the  west  coast  of  Istria,  Italian  is  current. 

(S)  Ladin, 

Known  also  as  the  language  of  the  Grisons,  the  Rheto-Romanee, 
the  Rumonsh,  and  Rumansh.  But  it  seems  best  to  call  it  simply 
Ladin,  with  Ascoli,  who  has  recently  devoted  an  important  work 
to  its  elucidation.*  According  to  this  writer  it  comprises  three 
distinct  groups  :  on  the  east  that  of  Friuli,  spoken  by  upwards  of 
400,000  people  in  Italy  on  the  banks  of  the  Tagliamento,  and  in 
Austria  as  far  as  Goritz ;  in  the  centre,  two  tracts  in  Austrian  Tyrol, 
at  some  distance  from  either  bank  of  the  Adige,  by  upwards  of 
90,000    persons;    on  the  west,    under  the  name   of  Rumansh,  it 

*  "Archivio  Glottologico  Italiano,"  vol.  i.  Saggi  Ladini.  Rome,  Turin, 
Florence,  1873. 


Chap,  v.]        THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  239 

stretches  across  the  greater  part  of  the  Swiss  canton  of  the  Grisons, 
being  there  spoken  by  about  40,000  ;  making  altogether  580,000 — 
a  number  which,  though  inconsiderable,  cannot  deprive  the  Ladin 
of  its  claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  true  language.  Its  central  and 
eastern  groups  have  been  wrongly  connected  with  the  Italian 
system,  from  which  they  differ  altogether  both  in  their  substance 
and  phonetics,  while  closely  allied  to  each  other  in  those  respects. 

The  literature  of  the  western  branch,  that  of  the  Grisons,  is  but 
little  developed.  Its  oldest  document  is  a  version  of  the  New 
Testament  dating  from  the  sixteenth  century,  while  those  of  the 
Friuli  dialect  are  referred  to  the  twelfth  century,  consisting,  no 
doubt,  of  rather  short  inscriptions,  but  long  enough  to  enable,  us  to 
characterise  the  language  of  that  period. 

(e)  Spanish. 

Spanish  departs  most  from  Latin  in  its  phonetics  andA'ocabularv. 
which  latter,  amongst  other  foreign  elements,  contains  a  consider- 
able number  of  Arabic  words;  but  in  the  formation  of  its  words  it 
remains  very  faithful  to  its  prototype.  Its  oldest  texts  belong  to 
the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  still  somewhat  scanty  at  that 
period,  hut  growing  more  and  more  abundant  in  the  following 
iry.  But  there  exist  older  traces  stil]  of  the  Spanish  language 
consisting  mostly  of  words  occurring  in  the  writings  of  S.  Isidore  of 
Seville,  who  flourished  in  the  seventh  century. 

Spanish  is  al  present  confined  on  the  west  by  the  Portuguese,  on 
the-  north  by  the  Basque,  whose  limits  are  given  at  p.  109,  and  in 

the  east  il  is  spread  throng] I   Catalonia  and  Valencia,  hut  as  the 

literary  standard  only,  the  current  speech  here  being  the  Catalonian, 

referred   to   in   our  notice  of  the  Provencal     Or  the  other  hand, 

Spanish    has  occupied  Axagon,    where   Catalonian   was    formerly 

ken,  and  it  is  also  encroaching  on  the  southern   frontier  of  the 

.     .lie,  which  it   has  already  driven    from    Vitoria,   Estella,    Pam- 

pluna,    and     N  .    while    Bilbao    and    A.glZ    already    occupy    ;i 

mixed  /one.     Tim-  Basque  L  losing  ground  much  more  rapidly  on 
the  south  than  on  the  north  of  the  Pyrenees;  beci  [ready 

,    .plained,  it     findfl    it-elf    in    Spain    directly    opposed    DJ    ;m 


240  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

language,  while  in  France  it  comes  more  directly  in  contact  with 
Gascon,  a  Langue  d'oc  dialect,  whose  own  existence  is  already 
imminently  threatened  by  French. 

(f)  Portuguese. 

Though  nearly  allied  to  Spanish,  Portuguese  cannot  be  looked 
upon  as  a  Spanish  dialect.  With  Galician,  spoken  in  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  peninsula,  it  rather  forms  an  entirely  independent 
branch  of  the  Eomance  family.  Its  oldest  records  are  more  recent 
than  the  Spanish,  dating  apparently  only  from  the  last  years  of  the 
twelfth  century.  The  stock  of  Arabic  words  occurring  in  Spanish 
is  much  the  same  as  that  found  in  Portuguese,  which,  however, 
also  contains  a  number  of  French  terms  foreign  to  Spanish.  They 
are  supposed  to  have  been  introduced  during  the  rule  of  Henry  of 
Burgundy,  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century. 

(rj)  Rumanian 

Derives  from  the  vvdgar  Latin,  introduced  into  Dacia  by  the 
.Roman  legionaries  settled  there  by  Trajan,  during  the  first  years  of 
the  second  century  of  our  era.  "  The  Roman  soldiers  released  from 
further  service,"  says  Picot,  "together  with  the  honesta  missio, 
obtained  th&  jus  connubii  and  the  jus  commercii,  that  is  the  right 
of  trading  and  intermarrying  with  the  barbarians.  Thus  forever 
cut  off  from  their  native  land,  and  stationed  for  five-and-twenty 
years  in  the  same  outposts,  the  legionaries  became  attached  to  the 
country  Avhere  they  had  lived  and  fought,  and  availed  themselves 
of  the  opportunities  afforded  them  by  the  law,  to  settle  down  there 
permanently.  It  was  thus  that  were  formed  on  the  banks  of  the 
Danube  the  first  centres  of  a  Roman  population,  and  these  veteran 
settlers  were  soon  joined  by  other  colonists  from  all  quarters  of  the 
empire,  and  especially  by  the  barbarians  attracted  thither  by  the 
allurements  of  trade.  The  military  colonies  were  very  numerous 
in  Dacia,  at  the  period  Avhen  the  Romans  were  compelled  to  with- 
draw from  that  province.  The  purely  Roman  population  may  be 
supposed  to  have  followed  the  legions  to  the  right  bank  of  the 
Danube,  Avhilst  the  issue  of  the  unions  of  the  veterans  and  the 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD    FORM    OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  241 

barbarians,  remained  in  the  country  of  their  birth,  retaining  the 
language  they  had  adopted  from  their  masters,  and  from  these 
doubtless  are  sprung  the  modern  Rumanians." 

We  shall  have  to  speak  farther  on  of  the  old  Dacian  tongue, 
whose  position  in  the  Aryan  family  is  far  from  being  yet  settled. 
Rumanian  very  probably  retains  in  its  vocabulary  some  remains  of 
this  ancient  language,  though  what  they  are,  it  might  be  somewhat 
difficult  to  determine.  To  do  so,  it  would  be  necessary  in  the  first 
place  to  know  more  of  the  old  Dacian  idiom  than  wc  now  do,  or 
than  Ave  are  ever  likely  to  do.  However,  a  list,  not  without  im- 
portance, has  been  made  of  the  elements  borrowed  by  the  Rumanian 
from  the  Slavonic  tongues,  in  historic  times ;  and  besides  these 
there  are  a  number  of  words  derived  from  the  Greek  and  other 
sources. 

Rumanian  was  long  supposed  to  be  a  Slavonic  dialect;  an  error 
due  not  only  to  the  Slavonic  words  existing  in  it,  but  also  to  the 
circumstance  that  it  was  till  recently  written  in  Cyrillic  letters, 
that  is,  with  the  same  alphabet  employed  by  the  Russian,  Serbe, 
and  Bulgarian.  In  certain  cases  this  alphabet  offered  considerable 
advantages,  but  was  in  other  respects  very  inconvenient,  so  that  it 
lias  been  at  last  finally  abandoned  for  the  Roman  letters.  When  it 
was  found  necessary  to  make  a  selection  of  the  diacritical  signs 
needed  to  supplemenl  the  Roman  alphabet,  there  were  several 
systems  <>i'  transcription  to  ehoosc  from.  Hence  no  complete  agree- 
ment was  arrived  at,  though  tins  much-to-be-desired  result  will 
doubtless,  some  day  be  achieved.* 

The  Latin  vowels,  as  shown  by  Mussafia,  have  undergone  two 
main  modifications  in  the  mouth  of  the  Dacian  populations.  <  >n 
the  one  hand,  the  vowels  e  and  o,  when  toned,  have  in  certain  eases 

been  changed  to  ea  and  oa,  that  is,  they  have  become  diphthongs  ; 
on  the  other,  many  yowelfl  have  acquired  a  very  deep  ami  almost 
nasal  sound.  This  double  phenomenon  constitutes  one  of  the 
le  iding  Eeal  urea  of  the  Rumanian  tongue.t 

*  riem.   "La    Soci&e*   Litteraire  de    Bucarest  et  I'Orfchographie  de  la 
Langne  Roumane."     Paris,  L867. 
f  "Zor  Bomaenigchen  Vocalisation*"     Vienna,  18G8. 

R 


242  THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

It  possesses  an  article  which,  however,  as  iu  Bulgarian  and 
Albanian,  it  suffixes  instead  of  prefixing:  omul  —  mau,-the.  This 
agreement  of  three  perfectly  distinct  idioms,  but  spoken  in  the  same 
geographical  zone,  is  not  a  little  remarkable.  But  whether  it  is  to 
be  looked  upon  as  a  relic  of  some  common  speech,  such  as  the  old 
Dacian,  which  may  have  left  this  inheritance  to  the  various  tongues 
supplanting  it  in  these  regions,  is  still  a  moot  question. 

Rumanian  is  very  homogeneous,  more  so  than  any  other  neo-Latin 
speech.  The  meaning  of  certain  terms  may  vary  from  place  to 
place,  but  this  is  not  enough  to  constitute  distinct  dialectic  varieties; 
There  is  scarcely  any  true  dialect  except  the  Macedo-Eumanian 
spoken  in  Rumelia,  Thessaly,  and  Albania. 

With  the  exception  of  this  detached  subdivision,  Rumanian  is 
singularly  uniform  and  compact,  forming  a  sort  of  irregular  circle  of 
over  a  hundred  leagues  in  length,  from  the  Dniester  to  the  Danube, 
and  about  the  same  in  width  from  Arad  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Danube.  Besides  Wallachia  and  Moldavia,  that  is  Rumania  proper, 
it  comprises  the  north-east  of  the  principality  of  Servia,  the  banat 
of  Temesvar,  a  great  part  of  eastern  Hungary,  the  greater  portion  of 
Transylvania,  South  Bukovina,  Bessarabia,  and  the  Danubian  delta. 
It  is  at  present  spoken  by  perhaps  9,000,000  of  people,  about 
half  of  whom  are  in  Rumania  proper.  The  name  of  Wallachians 
(that  is  Walsch  =  Welsh  =  foreign)  given  to  them  by  the  Germans, 
they  naturally  repudiate,  calling  themselves  Rumanians,  and  their 
speech  Rumanian,  herein  anxious  above  all  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  their  origin. 

§  6. — TJie  Keltic  Languages. 
Few  words  have  given  occasion  to  more  anthropological,  ethno- 
graphical, and  archaeological  misconceptions  than  this  of  Kelt  and 
Keltic.  Amidst  all  this  confusion  erroneous  theories  of  language 
and  races  have  played  a  larger  part  than  elseAvhere,  but  the  matter 
seems  at  last  fairly  set  at  rest.  Caesar's  tripartite  division  of  Gaul  (at 
the  opening  of  the  "  Commentaries  ")  into  Aquitania  on  the  south, 
Keltica  in  the  centre,  and  Belgium  on  the  north,  was  quite  correct. 
Budding  upon  this  classification,  which  is  moreover  confirmed  by  a 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  243 

great  number  of  other  passages,  anthropology  has  shown  that  the 
present  people  of  Auvergne  and  the  Low  Bretons  are  the  principal 
French  representatives  of  the  small  and  swarthy  Keltic  race,  which 
neither  had  nor  has  any  connection  with  the  tall,  fan,  blue-eyed 
and  soft-complexioned  neighbouring  race  that  we  may  call  by  the 
name  of  Galats,  Wallem,  Belgian,  or  Kyniric.  This  latter  people 
has  often  bat  wrongly  been  spoken  of  as  a  Keltic  race,  and.  as 
M.  Broca  has  conclusively  shown  in  an  excellent  essay  on  the 
subject,  it  never  had  any  claim  to  this  title.* 

The  confusion  that  has  too  long  obscured  the  subject  was  largely 
due  to  the  name  itself  of  "  Keltic  languages,"'  applied  in  too  general 
a  way  to  the  Kelts  and  the  Galats  of  the  north-east.  From  the 
feet  that  these  last  spoke  a  language  called  "  Keltic,"  they  were 
converted  into  "  Kelts,"  whose  languages  and  races  were  again  con- 
fused. It  would  have  been  just  as  reasonable  to  apply  the  term 
Gralat  to  the  Keltic  tongues,  and  that  this  has  not  been  done  is 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Kelts,  a  small,  dark,  bracky- 
cephalous  race,  had  invaded  the  region  known  afterwards  as  Gaul, 
Long  before  the  Galats,  allied  to  them  in  speech  but  not  in  race,  also 
arrived  there. 

To  explain  this  now  ascertained  fact  of  two  very  dissimilar  vans 
speaking  closely  connected  varieties  of  the  same  Language,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  they  both  at  some  period  lived  in  close  intimacy. 
But  this  is  nothing  mora  than  what  is  taking  place  everywhere  at 
the  present  moment.  Thus,  for  instance,  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
.  bat  rather  many  races  speaking  Freneh;  no  Italian 
i  many  ra©  speaking  [tauan  ;  no  ( iermanic  raee,  bul 
rather  many  races  speaking  German. 

It  would  be  Impossible  accurately  to  determine  the  region  where 

the  Galats  and   Kelts,  Living  almosi   in  eon inity,  spoke  idioms 

•.n    after*  "Keltic;"    but    all    the    anthropological 

*  "La  I       ique  Anoienne  et    Bfoderne,  Arvernea  et    Arcnoricans, 

.-,"'•  Revue  d*Anthropologie,"  ii.  p.  577 j  :"><1  bj 

ax  ['Anthropologic  de  ta   l''rancc 

en  genera  B  en  particuHer,"  "  Memoires  de  la  Boo. 

d'Anthropo  iiL  p.  1 17. 

i:    2 


244  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

arguments  point  at  a  country  situated  towards  the  south-east  of 
Europe,  and  -\ve  have  elsewhere  suggested  that  it  may  very  well 
have  been  the  region  of  the  Dnieper  and  the  Lower  Danube.*" 

Without,  however,  dwelling  on  this  side  of  the  "  Keltic  question," 
without  even  inquiring  as  to  which  of  the  two  branches  of  the 
Keltic  tongues  is  to  be  referred  to  the  Galats  and  which  to  the 
Kelts,  we  shall  at  once  deal  with  the  purely  philological  question, 
with  which  we  are  here  alone  directly  concerned. 

The  Keltic  tongues  are  divided  into  two  distinct  and  clearly 
defined  branches.  One  of  these  has  received  the  names  of 
Hibernian,  Gaedlielic  or  Gaelic,  the  other  those  of  Breton  [Welsh) 
and  Kymric.  Following  the  usual  practice,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
avoiding  &\\y  misunderstandings,  we  shall  speak  of  them  under  the 
names  of  Gaelic  and  Kymric.  Xor  do  we  pretend  to  assert  that 
there  may  not  formerly  have  been  other  branches  of  the  Keltic 
family  besides  these  two.  The  fact  is  even  probable,  if  we  admit 
the  wide  diffusion  of  these  idioms  in  very  remote  times.  It  does 
not  seem  quite  impossible  that  documents  may  yet  be  brought  to 
light  in  central  Europe,  perhaps  in  the  region  of  the  Danube, 
tending  to  confirm  this  supposition.  But  pending  the  discovery  of 
such  documents,  our  remarks  must  be  limited  to  the  two  groups 
above  mentioned. 

The  Gaelic  Branch  comprises  three  languages,  Irish,  Erse,  and 
Manx,  all  three  closely  allied  to  each  other. 

Owing  to  its  better  preservation  and  to  the  wealth  of  its 
literature,  the  importance  of  Irish  for  the  study  of  the  Keltic 
tongues  is  very  considerable.  Its  literary  wealth  is  doubtless 
relative  only,  that  of  the  cognate  languages  having  been  so  little 
developed.  The  oldest  Irish  documents  consist  more  particularly 
of  more  or  less  lengthy  glosses  occurring  either  in  the  margin  or 
between  the  lines  of  Latin  manuscripts  as  old  as  the  eighth  century. 
The  old  Irish  inscriptions  in  the  so-called  "  Ogham "  characters 
cannot  be  more  recent  than  the  fifth  century,  that  is  the  epoch 
when  Latin  writing  spread  among  the  Irish  and  Bretons.     But  the 

*  "  Bulletins  de  la  Soc.  d' Anthropologic  de  Paris?,"  1874. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  245 

origin  of  these  characters  is  as  yet  far  from  heing  cleared  up,  ami 
we  cannot  therefore  further  occupy  ourselves  with  them  here. 

Irish  letters  reached  their  greatest  height  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  of  this  period  there  remain  a  number  of  chronicles  and  tales, 
besides  translations  of  foreign  works.  At  the  time  of  the  Uenais- 
sance  the  language  entered  on  the  period  of  decay  and  ultimate. 
extinction.  At  present  there  are  at  the  utmost  not  more  than 
950,000  speaking  both  Irish  and  English,  and  not  more  than 
160,000  speaking  Irish  exclusively,  all  restricted  to  the  west  [and 
south-west]  part  of  the  island. 

Its  geographical  position  has  better  preserved  the  Erse,  or  Scot*-!, 
Gaelic,  from  the  encroachments  of  the  English  language.  Still,  it 
is  now  spoken  by  scarcely  more  than  400,000  individuals,  many  of 
whom  also  speak  English.  And  it  would  be  rather  difficult  to  say 
how  many  are  acquainted  with  Gaelic  alone.  It  occupies  all  the 
north  of  Scotland,  except  a  small  tract  on  the  extreme  north-east, 
besides  the  west  and  [a  portion  of]  the  centre,  say,  approximately, 
tip-  south  of  Caithness,  Sutherlandshire,  Ihvemessshire,  Argyleshire, 
and  the  west  of  Perthshire.  It  also  extends  over  the  neighbouring 
Hebrides,  but  is  unknown  in  the  Orkney  and  Shetland  islands. 

Though  1'  ss  ancient  than  the  Irish,  the  Gaelic  literature  of 
Scotland  has  the  greal  advantage  of  having  more  faithfully  pre- 
i  the  memory  of  the  old  traditions  (a  statement  which  would 
probably  be  warmly  contested  by  Irish  writers).  The  apocryphal 
poems  of  Ossian,  which  gave  rise  to  so  much  controversy  about  a 
hundred  years  ago,  had  unquestionably  a  groundwork  of  truth  ; 
and  even  now  the  Scotch  Highlanders  are  Ear  from  having  forgotten 
all  the  Legends  of  their  forefathers. 

The  dialect  of  the  [ale  of  Man  is  of  but  secondary  interest,  and 
Ls  now  spoken  by  scarcely  a  fourth,  if  even  BO  many,  of  the 
inhabitant 

The  Kymric  Branch  comprises  Welsh,  Cornish,  /.<<"•  Breton,  and 
Gaulish,  of  which  two  only  .-till  survive  (the  Welsh  and 
Breton). 

Of  all  the  Keltic  literatures  thai    of  Wales  shows  al  presenl  the 

.  mptomS  of    vitality.       Welsh  glosses  OCCUI  as  early  as  the 


246  THIltD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

eighth  century,*  consequently  as  old  as  the  Irish  glosses  above 
alluded  to ;  though  otherwise  in  every  respect  of  far  less  import- 
ance. The  flourishing  period  of  Welsh  literature  extends  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth  century,  during  which  time  were 
produced  a  number  of  chronicles  and  poems.  The  Benaissance 
seemed  at  first  to  threaten  Welsh  letters  with  extinction,  but  they 
subsequently  recovered  to  some  extent,  and  Welsh  is  still  a  written 
language. 

Corn i all,  on  the  contrary,  became  extinct  in  the  last  century.  Its 
most  ancient  monument  is  a  glossary  with  the  title  of  "  Vocabula 
Brittanica,"  dating  from  the  thirteenth  or  (more  probably)  from  the 
twelfth  century.  [It  is  marked  Vesp.  a  14  in  the  Cotton  Col- 
lection in  the  British  Museum,  and  has  been  carefully  arranged 
alphabetically,  and  printed  by  Mr.  Edwin  J>~orris  in  his  "  Cornish 
Drama,"  vol.  ii.,  and  also  by  Zeuss  in  his  "  Grammatica  Celtica," 
less  correctly.]  Some  other  Cornish  writings  may  be  referred  to 
the  period  of  the  Benaissance,  more  particularly  a  sort  of  Christian 
mystery  on  the  Bassion,  into  which  a  number  of  English  words 
have  already  found  their  way.  [Of  this  poem  there  are  four 
copies  extant,  and  it  has  been  more  than  once  printed.  But  the 
corrected  edition  by  Whitley  Stokes  in  the  "  Transactions  of  the 
Bhilological  Society  of  London,"  1862,  supersedes  all  the  others, 
which  were  almost  worthless.     It  is  accompanied  by  a  translation.] 

Breton  or  Armorican  possesses  no  documents  of  any  great 
antiquity,  and  those  referred  to  a  period  anterior  to  the  fourteenth 
century  are  doubtless  not  so  old.  [Yet  the  chartularies  of  the 
monasteries  of  Bhedon  and  Landevin  belong  partly  to  the  tenth 
and  partly  to  the  eleventh  century.  Some  of  them  have  been 
printed  by  Courson  in  his  "Histoire  des  Beuples  Bretons,"  Baris, 
1846.]     The  best  known  Breton  work  is   the  life  of  St.  iNbnna 

*  The  oldest  Welsh  records  of  this  sort  probably  are  the  vellum  MSS. 
in  the  Bodleian — Auct.  F.  4 — 32,  in  Wanley's  Catalogue  of  Anglo-Saxon 
MSS.  2.  63.  It  includes  accounts  of  weights  and  measures  in  Welsh, 
intermixed  with  Latin,  the  alphabet  of  Nemnivus  giving  the  forms  of  the 
letters  and  their  names  in  Welsh,  the  grammar  of  Eutychius  with  interlined 
Welsh  glosses,  &c.  These  glosses  Zeuss  refers  to  the  eighth  or  ninth 
century. — Note  by  Translator. 


CiiAr.  v.]         THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  247 

(or  Nonita)  and  her  son  (referred  by  Zeuss  to  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  published  under  the  title  of  "  Buhez  Santez  Nbnn, 
ou  vie  de  Sainte  JNTonne  et  de  sod  iils  Saint  Devy,"  Arc.,  with  a 
French  translation  by  M.  Legonidec,  in  1837).  Breton  literature, 
however,  may  now  be  said  to  be  entirely  extinct.  All  that  survives 
of  the  old  songs  and  traditions  is  being  rescued  from  oblivion,  though 
tin-  publication  of  some  more  or  less  apocryphal  pieces  oughi  not  to 
be  allowed  to  cast  a  doubt  on  the  genuine  nature  of  many  others. 

Breton  is  spoken  in  the  department  of  Finistere  and  in  the 
western  parts  of  the  Cotes-du-Xord  and  of  Morbihan.  It  com- 
prises four  dialects,  that  of  Leon  being  the  best  known  and 
seemingly  the  most  important. 

The  twenty- four  inscriptions  Ave  possess  in  the  old  GnuliSh 
language  were  mostly  discovered  in  the  region  of  the  Middle 
Saone,  though  some  come  from  the  Lower  Rhone,  from  eastern 
Normandy,  and  from  other  places.  Written  in  Latin  characters, 
and  occasionally  in  Greek,  as,  for  instance,  that  of  Ximes,  these 
Gaulish  records  still  remain  undeciphered,  though  they  have  given 
-ion  to  some  really  valuable  essays,  such  as  that  of  Pictet:'f  and 
others.  But  we  have  moreover  the  names  of  localities  and  of  other 
proper  names  occurring  in  the  classic  writers,  all  of  which  together 
is  more  than  enough  to  allow  of  the  old  Gaulish  being  classed 
with  tic  KLymric  branch  of  the  Keltic  tongues  ;  hut  we  shall  again 
reveri  to  this  subject  a  little  farther  on. 

The  incursion  of  the  Gadatians  into  Asia  Minor,  where  the\ 
settled,  is  an  historical  event.  Bui  their  speech,  which,  according 
to  the  old  authorities,  resembled  thai  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Treves  (Lower  Moselle),  disappeared  during  the  first  centuries  of 
our  i  r;i.  certainbj  not  later  than  the  fourth. 

The     Keltie  '  ],;r]<     what     the     Teutonic    possess, 

Leading  feature  such  as  tic  (regular)  interchange  of  con 
sonanl  .  Bui  whilst  showing  strong  affinities  as  well  fco  the 
Teutonic  1  on  the  one  hand,  as  to  the  Italic  mi  tin-  other, 

*  "  :  gologiqne,"  L867,  i>.  -7-';  Tbid.,  Alfred  Maury,  L866,  |».  8. 

Wilis  |<  Inscriptions;"  aJ  o  in  bhe  "Beifcrage  max  Vet- 

gleiohendeu  Bprachforschung,"  ii.  p.  100. 


248  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  y. 

they  do  not  the  less  present  a  very  striking  character  of  their  own. 
It  would  be  impossible,  perhaps,  to  define  this  character  very 
exactly,  hut  it  is  the  result  of  a  perfectly  definite  aggregate.  All 
the  Keltic  tongues  in  the  matter  of  word-formation  may  he  said  to 
have  shown  a  strong  tendency  towards  contraction.  We  saw 
higher  up  how  French,  resting  mainly  on  the  Latin  toned  syllable, 
often  disregarded  the  unaccented  ones,  as  in  porche  from  portions, 
livrer  from  liberdre,  regie  from  regula,  leur  from  Riorum.  It  may 
possibly  have  inherited  this  tendency  from  the  Keltic-speaking 
inhabitants  of  Gaul,  before  the  vulgar  Latin  had  there  become 
(what  we  now  call)  French.  Hence  the  contracted  and  condensed 
state  of  the  Keltic  words  themselves  might  be  supposed  clue  also 
to  an  analogous  tendency.  But  what  was  the  law  regulating  the 
play  of  accent  in  the  prehistoric  or  primitive  Aryan  Keltic  1  Un- 
fortunately this  is  a  point  that  it  is  now  impossible  to  settle,  and 
it  consequently  leaves  a  wide  scope  for  conjecture. 

A  glance  at  the  vocalismus  of  the  old  Irish  readily  shows  that  it 
is  closely  akin  to  that  of  the  Latin  language.  Thus  the  vowel  a 
of  the  common  Aryan  speech  frequently  becomes  e,  as  in  Irish 
rrlt  —  Latin  equus  =  primitive  Aryan  aJcvas  =  horse.  The  diph- 
thongs also  are  contracted,  as  in  Irish  fkli  =  Latin  view  for  veicos 
=  Aryan  vaikas.  The  final  vowels  are,  moreover,  usually  sacri- 
ficed, as  may  be  seen  by  these  two  examples.  What  we  have  said 
of  the  old  Irish  is  equally  applicable,  not  only  to  the  other  Gaelic 
dialects,  but  also  to  those  of  the  Kymric  branch.  Both  of  these 
branches  resemble  each  other  very  closely  in  their  consonantal 
systems  also.  Thus  each  in  certain  cases  aspirates  the  common 
Aryan  consonants  Tc  t  p.  But  this  is  less  common  in  Kymric  than 
in  Gaelic  :  thus  Breton  and  Welsh  have  dec  for  the  old  Irish  deich 
(the  ch  =  x)  =  ten,  which  in  modern  Irish  becomes  deag,  the 
aspirates  being  again  corrupted  to  simple  explosives. 

The  Kymric  and  the  Gaelic  phonology,  again,  are  distinguished 
from  each  other  by  a  very  general  and  striking  characteristic.  The 
organic  7c  of  the  common  Aryan  continues  in  the  Gaelic  group 
(except  its  occasional  change  to  an  aspirate  as  above),  whereas  in 
the  Kymric  it  becomes  j>  as  a  rule.     Here  are   a  few  examples  of 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  249 

this  important  fact:  Welsh peduuar, pedwar  =  four ;  Breton peuar, 
pevar,  where  the  primitive  k  has  become^,  in  the  Gaelic  branch 
continuing,  as  in  the  Irish  eethir  (c  =  Jc)  compared  with  the  Latin 
quotum  and  the  Lithuanian  Icdnri.  So  with  the  Welsh pimp,  pump 
and  Breton  pemp,  compared  with  the  old  Irish  eoic,  modern  Irish 
I'ui'j  and  Latin  guinque. 

This  change  of  k  to  p  is  clearly  seen  in  the  old  Gaulish,  and  is 
one  of  the  reasons  for  grouping  this  language  with  the  Kymric. 
We  know,  for  instance,  that  the  Latin  quvnquefolium  =  cinquef oil 
or  "five-fingered  grass,"  was  named  pempedula,  which  compare 
with  the  Welsh  pump  and  Breton  pemp^&ve,  as  above;  nor  is 
this  an  isolated  instance. 

Irish  declension  has  suffered  much,  the  primitive  case-endings 
having  generally  been  very  seriously  corrupted,  and  occasionally 
disappearing  altogether,  .rendering  it  difficult  to  determine  at  a 
glance  the  case  of  the  noun.  [This  corruption  of  the  amlaut  had 
already  affected  the  oldest  historical  forms  of  the  Irish  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  render  their  comparison  with  the  primitive  Aryan 
almost  impossible  without  assuming  two  or  three  intervening  stages, 
as  thus  : 

Primitive  Form.  Prehistoric  Form.  Oldest  Historic  Form. 

Singular — Nom.              ballas  balls                          ball 

Acc.               Italian  balln                         ball 

Dat.              ballui  or  ballu  balln                        baul 

Plural— Dat.               ballabis  ball  (a)  bis             ball  (a)  ib,  &c] 

<  >M  pronominal  forms,  assuming  the  force  of  true  articles  or 
prepo  i  ime  to  I"-  employed  as  a  remedy  for  the  confusion 
thence  arising.  Tim--  the  form  athir  -. father,  has,  as  it  stands,  the 
force  of  no  particular  case,  bul  intathir  becomes  the  nominative 
pater,  and  sinnathir  the  accusative  /»'//•<///.  Declension  may  be 
said  to  fare  still  worse  in  tin-  Kymric  group,  all  trace  of  case- 
endings  having  well-nigh  disappeared,  whilst  the  article  itself  has 
e.  Thus  iii  Breton  /■<«/>  kin-,  means  at 
once  /■'.'■.  i  /'  .  A-.-.,  ii,,-  article  "/'  always  preceding  it:  <m 
!•■■■:  ;  "/'  /■'"  Hence  tic-  relational  value  of  the 
noun  is  determined  solely  bj  the  ai npanying  prepositions,  just 


250  THIRD   FOEM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

as  in  the  English:  to  the  man,  of  the  man,  from  the  man,  for  the 
man,  beyond  which  analysis  cannot  go. 

The  Gaelic  and  Kymric  conjugation  follow  essentially  the  same 
system,  which  is  one  that  presents  great  difficulties  to  the  learner, 
in  fact  constituting  the  real  obstacle  to  the  acquisition  of  the 
Keltic  tongues.  And  here  again,  as  might  be  expected,  the  Kymric 
group  is  much  more  corrupt  than  the  Gaelic. 

It  would  be  an  endless  task  to  attempt  to  specify  all  the  mon- 
strous absurdities  that  have  been  written  concerning  the  Keltic 
languages.  Even  now,  it  is  by  no  means  rare  to  hear  of  Phoenician 
and  Etruscan  being  interpreted  by  Keltic  roots,  and  stdl  less  rare 
to  hear  of  the  Basque  being  explained  by  Kymric  or  Irish  words. 
]Jut  of  even  more  frequent  occurrence  are  those  theories,  cropping 
up  almost  intermittently,  which,  in  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said, 
written,  and  proved,  over  and  over  again,  respecting  the  origin  of 
the  Eomance  tongues,  still  insist  upon  deriving  them  from  Keltic 
sources.*  This  obstinacy  of  the  Keltomanian  school  is  solely  due 
to  its  utterly  ignoring  three  essential  elements  in  the  calculation — 
that  is  the  Keltic,  the  Latin  and  the  neo-Latin  tongues  themselves. 
All  the  adherents  of  this  school  are  etymologists,  and  etymology  is 
the  essential  condition  of  Keltomania. 

Thus  the  Erench  un  looks  more  akin  in  appearance  to  the  Welsh 
and  Cornish  un,  and  the  Lreton  eun  than  to  the  Latin  unus,  hence 
the  irresistible  conclusion  of  the  etymologist  that  the  French  un 
comes  from  the  Keltic  un.  Lut  nothing  can  be  further  from  the 
point,  two  important  factors  being  here  entirely  overlooked.  One 
is  the  old  form  of  the  French  un,  the  nominative  of  which  in  the 
eleventh  century  (when  there  were  two  cases)  was  uns,  where  the 
Keltic  un  utterly  fails  to  account  for  the  final  sibilant  s,  explained 
at  once  by  the  Latin  vm/us.  Again,  before  speaking  of  a  Keltic  un 
the  Keltomanian  has  forgotten  to  compare  the  Welsh  and  Cornish  un 
itself  with  the   Gaelic  Sin,  and  thus  reduce  them  both  to  some 

*  But  even  these  visionaries  are  outdone  by  Charles  Mackay.  who  has  in 
some  recent  numbers  of  the  Athericrum  been  amusing  the  public  by  his  in- 
genious attempts  to  explain  Shakespeare  by  means  of  Irish  and  the  cognate 
tongues. — Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  251 

common  form.  But  lie  does  not  concern  himself  -with  the  scientific 
method,  he  is  a  pure  etymologist,  and  were  he  not  one,  he  would 
not  he  a  member  of  the  Keltomanian  school. 

A i  the  same  time,  no  one  pretends  to  say  that  the  Keltic  tongues 
have  not  furnished  a  certain  number  of  words  to  the  vocabulary  of 
the  neo-Latin  languages,  though  even  this  is  by  no  means  con- 
siderable, consisting  mainly  of  geographical  terms,  such  as  the 
names  of  the  Danube,  Alps,  and  Ardennes.  The  words  Mem,  dtme, 
alouette,  and  others,  are  also  of  Keltic  origin,  but  only  indirectly, 
that  is,  as  already  explained,  by  filtering  through  the  Latin. 

[The  progressof  Keltic  philology,  in  the  scientific  sense,  is  marked 
by  the  names  of  Dr.  Prichard :  "The  Eastern  Origin  of  the  Celtic 
Nations,"  1832,  in  which  he,  for  the  first  time,  sought  to  prove 
the  true  affinities  of  the  Keltic  tongues,  with  the  cognate  Sanskrit, 
Greek,  Latin,  Gothic,  and  Slavonic  branches  of  the  Aryan  family  ; 
Adolph  Pictet,  "De  lAffinite  des  Langues  Celtiques  avec  le 
Sanskrit,"  1837,  a  study  based  mainly  on  the  Irish,  and  still 
valuable  ;  Bopp,  "Die  Celtischen  Sprachen,"  1839,  containing 
many  important  discoveries,  and  forming  a  sort  of  supplement  to 
his  Aryan  " Comparative  Grammar,"  in  which  Keltic  had  not  been 
included;  J.  Kaspar  Zeuss,  "Grammatics  Celtica,"  1853,  a  fun- 
damental work  on  Keltic  philology,  ami  an  imperishable  monument 
of  the  author's  -cuius  ami  industry  ;  Dr.  Hermann  Ebel,  a  disciple 
of  Zeuss,  several  important  contributions  to  the  study  of  the 
Keltic  tongues,  contributed  to  the  "  Beitrage  Zur  Vergleichenden 
Sprachf orechung,  vols.  Land  \L,  passitn ;  Dr.  Lottner,  "Celtisch- 
[talisch,"  also  in  the  "  Beitrage,"  ii.  309;  Whitley  Stokes,  ••  Irish 
Glosses,  a  Mediaeval  Tract  on  Irish  Declension,"  including  the 
"Lorica"  of  Gildas,  Glosses  from  the  "Book  of  Armagh,"  &c.,  edited 
for  the  liidi  Arch.  Dr.  W.   K.  Sullivan,  papers 

in  the  "Atlantis,"  based  on    Ebel,    and   resumed,    with  valuable 
additions,  in  his  "  Celtic  Studies,"  1863;  Rev.  U.  Burke,  of  Tuam, 
.  not  always   sound;   and  Thomas  Stephens,    "The 
Literature  of  the  K\  nny.  '  1849  and  1876. 

In  Keltic  archaeology,  the  most  distinguished  names  are 
l»r.  Petrie,  "The  Round  Towers;"  Eugene  O'Curry,  "The  Brehon 


252  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

Laws;"  O'Donovan,  Todd,  Stokes,  Reeves,  &c.  But  in  spite  of 
the  labours  of  all  these,  and  other  scholars,  the  race  still  nourishes 
of  the  Vallenceys,  Pinkertons,  Yam,  Kennedys,  Bethanis, 
Maekays,  and  other  "Milesians,"  who  continue  to  identify  the 
Kymric  and  Gaedhelic  tongues,  nut  only  with  Phoenician,  Etruscan, 
Basque,  and  Romance,  but  even  with  the  Leni  Lenape  Indians  of 
]North  America,  with  the  Lappish  of  the  sub-arctic  regions,  the 
Ostyaks  and  Tungus  of  Siberia,  with  the  Jaloffs  of  northern,  and 
the  Hottentots  of  south  Africa,  and  with  the  English  of  Shake- 
speare. Such  is  the  vitality  of  national  prejudice  when  fostered 
by  ignorance  !] 

§  7. — Tlte  Teutonic  Tongues. 

The  terms  German,  Germany,  Germanic,  to  explain  which  several 
unsuccessful  attempts  have  been  made,  do  not  appear  to  be  of 
Teutonic  origin,  and  ought,  doubtless,  to  be  replaced  by  the  word 
Tudesk  (or  Teutonic),  representing  the  modern  German  Deutsch, 
the  old  High  German  diutisc,  and  answering  to  a  still  older 
tliiudisks,  an  adjective  primarily  meaning  popular,  national.  Still 
the  name  of  Germanic  has  become  too  general  now  to  be  replaced 
by  any  other  ;  and  the  Germans  themselves,  while  protesting  against 
this  term,  still  speak,  somewhat  inconsistently,  not  of  the  Indo- 
Teutonic,  but  of  the  Indo-Germanic  languages.  [But  English 
philologists  having  long  ago  very  properly  rejected  the  term 
Indo-Germanic  for  Indo-European,  and  this  latter  now  mostly 
for  the  simple  word  Aryan,  they  are  not  affected  by  this  argument ; 
as  they  have,  moreover,  shoAvn  a  preference  for  the  more  correct 
Teutonic  over  the  foreign  Germanic,  Teutonic  is  retained  in  this 
translation,  as  the  generic  term  of  the  race.  It  would  be  hopeless 
to  attempt  to  revive  its  modern  form  Dutch,  restricted  as  this  now 
exclusively  is  to  one  little  section  of  the  race,  occupying  mainly 
the  delta  of  the  Rhine  ;  though  there  are  writers  who  affect  to 
speak  of  High  Dutch  and  Low  Dutch,  instead  of  High  German  and 
Low  German.  From  these  examples  it  will  be  seen  that  while 
Teuton  and  Teutonic  are  by  English  use  reserved  for  the  whole 
people,    in   the    widest    sense,    German    and   Germanic    are    con- 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD    FORM    OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  253 

veniently  employed  in  speaking  of  any  section  or  subdivision  of 

them.  Hence  we  say  the  Teutonic  branch  of  the  Aryan  family, 
but  the  High  German  or  Low  German  subdivision  of  that  branch, 
and  so  on.  When,  as  is  here  the  case,  convenience  and  accuracy 
can  be  reconciled,  we  should  be  slow  to  forego  the  corresponding 
advantages,  out  of  deference  for  foreign  usage.] 

The  Teutonic  system  is  divided  into  four  distinct  groups :  the 
Gothic,  Norse,  Low  German,  and  High  German.  But  before  treat- 
ing of  these  in  detail,  let  us  cast  a  glance  at  the  general  system  of 
all  the  Teutonic  tongues. 

Its  main  feature  consists  in  its  peculiar  treatment  of  the  organic 
Aryan  explosives:  h,  t,  p ;  g,  d,  b;  gh,  dh,  bh,  which  it  always 
strengthens.  The  aspirated  Aryan  explosive  thus  becomes  un- 
aspirated,  and  the  soft  becomes  a  strong  explosive,  while  the  strong 
Aryan  explosives  become  fricatives,  k  changing  to  h,  />  tot)  and  t  to 
the  English  th  hard,  as  in  three,  thank.  Hence  where  the  Sanskrit, 
faithful  to  the  organic  explosives,  says  bhrdtd,  the  Gothic  has 
brdfhar,  changing  the  aspirate  to  a  non-aspirate,  and  the  strong  to 
a  fricative.  So  also  the  Sanskrit  ajras  =  tbe  Greek  nypos-  and  Latin 
";/',■,  in  Gothic  becomes  akrs  =  acre,  the  weak  explosive  changing  to 
a  strong  one. 

Nothing  is  simpler  or  more  uniform  than  this  law.  being  always 
constant  except  when  interrupted  by  some  physiological  impediment, 
as  when  an  *  precedes  the  explosive  that,  would  have  to  lie  made 
strong,  in  which  case  it  remains  unchanged.  Thus  the  Sanskrit 
asti  and  Lithuanian  esti  answer  to  the  Gothic  ist  =  i&. 

This  Leading  characteristic  of  the  Teutonic  system,  in  its  broad 
outlines,  was  in  tie-  course  of  ages   further  developed  ami   com- 
pleted, but  it  still  remained   tie-   vnv  groundwork   of  the  whole 
in. 

B  idea  tie-  new  fricatives,/,  h,  th,  hard  ami  soft,  and  z,  the  old 
Teutonic  tongue  added  Little  to  the  common  stock  of  th  organic 
Aryan  consonants.     <  m  the  other  hand  thej  Losl   the  three  i 

ated  i  v/',  dh,  bh,  which,  as  explained,  ha\  e  I u  com  erted 

into  three  simple  explo  i 

In  their  vocalismus  the  Teutonic  tongues  are.  Less  pure,  having 


254i  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

greatly  modified  the  original  Aryan  system,  and  developed  a  great 
wealth  of  diphthongs.  Their  old  declension,  though  not  so  well 
preserved  as  that  of  most  of  the  other  Aryan  groups,  is  still  organic 
enough  in  many  respects ;  hut  the  conjugation  has  suffered  con- 
siderable losses,  including  nearly  all  the  organic  tenses. 

(1)  Gothic. 

But  for  the  generally  received  practice,  we  shoidd  lie  tempted  to 
discard  the  li  and  spell  this  word  more  correctly  as  Gotic,  and  as  the 
Goths  themselves  wrote  it.  The  difference  is  material,  because,  as 
already  remarked,  the  th  of  the  old  Teutonic  tongues  was  a  true 
fricative,  and  not  a  more  or  less  aspirated  explosive.  The  Romans 
wrote  correctly  Goticus,  and  the  Greek  liistorians  alone  are  respon- 
sible for  the  vicious  spelling  Gothic. 

Gothic  was  long  supposed  to  be  the  common  progenitor  of  all  the 
Germanic  tongues.  But  this  was  not  the  case ;  and  though  as  a 
whole  more  correct  and  more  akin  to  the  common  Aryan  than  any 
one  of  them  individually,  it  is  still  in  some  respects  inferior  to  its 
congeners.  It  must,  in  fact,  be  placed  by  the  side  of  the  old 
Icelandic  and  of  the  two  Low  German  idioms,  also  often  on  the 
same  level  as  the  old  High  German,  though  this  last,  on  one  special 
point,  is  far  inferior  to  all  the  kindred  tongues.  Doubtless  marry 
High  and  Low  German  forms  are  explained  by  the  Gothic,  but 
none  of  them  derive  directly  from  it.  In  a  word,  Gothic,  Norse, 
High  and  Low  German,  all  descend  from  one  common  source, 
which  none  of  them  now  adequately  represents. 

"When  this  common  Teutonic  mother-tongue  was  spoken  is  a 
question  that  wdl  scarcely  ever  be  settled.  The  Gotliic  we  are 
acquainted  with  in  the  form  it  had  assumed  in  the  fourth  century 
of  our  era,  in  the  version  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  due  to 
"Wulfila  (a.d.  318-388),  the  Ulphilas  of  Greek  writers,  bishop  of  the 
Goths,  settled  in  Mocsia.  It  continued  to  be  spoken  for  five 
hundred  years  thereafter,  finally  dying  out  in  the  ninth  centurr. 

Its  vocalismus  is  the  least  complex  of  all  those  of  the  old  Teutonic 
tongues.  We  will  merely  observe  that  it  usually  changes  the 
organic  a  to  e  or  6,  herein  often  inferior  to  the  High  German  idioms. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  255- 

The  old  diphthongs  ai,  au,  also  changes  it  as  a  rule  into  ci  and  121 
respectively. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  general  tendency  of  the  Teutonic 
tongues  to  strengthen  the  explosives  of  the  common  Aryan.  After 
rigorously  applying  this  law.  Gothic  afterwards  further  modified 
the  fricatives  thus  obtained.  Thus  at  times  /1,  representing  an 
older  /.-.  becomes  g  ;  tit,  from  an  older  t,  changes  to  d  ;  and  /,  from 
an  older p,  passes  into  b.  This  phenomenon  is  very  remarkable, 
and  the  numerous  examples  of  its  occurrence  have  frequently  been 
wrongly  cited  as  so  many  exceptions  to  the  general  principle  of 
strengthening  the  organic  explosives.  M.  Cliavee  has  given  it  the 
title  of  "law  of  polarity,"  and  Ave  shall  see  how  the  expression  may 
be  justified,  when  speaking  of  the  Low  German  tongues,  in  which 
this  secondary  law  may  be  detected  in  actual  operation.  Meanwhile 
it  will  be  enough  to  have  noticed  its  effects  on  the  Gothic  language, 
where,  though  less  general,  it  still  exists. 

The  laws  of  Gothic  phonology  are  important  enough  without 
being  very  numerous.  One  of  the  most  characteristic  is  that  in 
words  of  mure  than  one  syllable  the  vowels  a  and  i  preceding 
a  final  consonant  disappear.  Another  important  phonetic  law 
peculiar  to  Gothic  is  that  which  as  a  rule  changes  i  to  ai  and  u  to 
au  before  r  and  h. 

In  the  nominal  declension  <  rothic  has  lost  all  thi  dual  Tonus,  and 
.  .'.  bile  nearly  all  the  datives  are  borrowed  from  the 
vocative.  Of  the  organic  conjugation  it  has  retained  the  present 
and  theold  reduplicate  pasl  only,  the  Latter  ai  least,  for  a  portion  of 
its  verbs;  but  no  vestige  remains  of  the  two  aorists,  the  LmperJ 
and  future.  It  expresses  the  future  by  present  forms,  and  for  the 
hulk  of  derivative  verbs  it  has  developed  a  sort  of  pasl  tensi . 

Gothic  disappeared  without  leaving  any  issue,  as  was  the  case 
my  other  Teutonic  tongue     pok  naboul  the  same  period — 
those,   for  in  tance,  of  the  Vandals,    fferuli,  and   Burgundians,  of 
m  no  record    1m\ e  survived. 

I 
The    old    Noj  e    jpeech    was    trail  planted    to    [celand    by    the 


256  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

Norwegian  settlers  ;  and  in  consequence  of  the  slow  development  of 
civilisation  in  this  remote  and  inaccessible  island,  it  was  here  able 
to  maintain  itself  much  more  easily  than  in  the  other  (Scandinavian 
countries.  In  fact  the  modern  Icelandic  differs  little  from  that  old 
tongue  :  and  its  superiority  over  all  its  European  congeners,  not 
only  of  the  Teutonic,  but  also  of  the  Slavonic,  Keltic,  and  neo- 
Latin  groups,  would  be  uncontested  but  for  the  existence  of  the 
Lithuanian.  The  weak  point  in  modern  Icelandic  is  its  subjection 
to  the.  already  described  law  affecting  the  organic  explosives,  a  law, 
however,  common  to  all  the  Teutonic  family,  and  from  which  it 
could  not  therefore  escape. 

The  old  Norse  phonology  is  much  more  delicate  than  the  Gothic, 
embracing  some  twenty  different  vowels,  long  and  short,  besides 
several  diphthongs.  There  are  also  twenty  consonants,  including, 
besides  the  sharp  and  soft  explosives,  the  two  fricatives  /,  h,  and 
the  English  th,  hard  and  soft.  Norse  is,  moreover,  distinguished 
from  the  other  cognate  Germanic  tongues  by  a  greater  tendency  to 
assimilate  its  consonants.  Its  declension,  as  a  rule,  is  as  well  pre- 
served as  in  Gothic,  and  its  conjugation  has  suffered  the  same 
losses.  It  has  developed  a  futare,  a  conditional,  and  a  new  past 
tense  by  analytical  processes. 

In  Iceland  were  composed  the  noblest  monuments  of  old 
Norse  literature — the  two  "  Eddas,"  consisting  of  a  collection  of 
old  mythical  tales.  The  first,  which  is  in  verse,  dates  from  the 
eleventh  century ;  the  second,  which  is  in  prose,  is  more  recent, 
forming  a  sort  of  supplement  to  the  first. 

There  are  four  modern  Scandinavian  tongues  :  Icelandic,  Nor- 
wegian, Sviedish,  and  Danish.  According  to  some  writers,  Icelandic 
alone  derives  directly  from  old  Norse,  the  three  other  Scandinavian 
tongues  coming  from  different  though  nearly  related  varieties  of 
that  old  language.  Others,  on  the  contrary,  hold  that  old  Norse 
is  the  common  parent  of  all  four.  In  any  case  the  greater  affinity 
of  Icelandic  Avith  Norwegian,  and  of  Swedish  with  Danish  is  un- 
questioned. They  may  thus  be  divided  into  two  tolerably  distinct 
groups.*  Icelandic  and  Norwegian,  for  instance,  retain  the  old 
*  M.  Mobius,  "  Diinische  Formenlehre,"  p.  2.     Kiel,  1871. 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD    FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  257 

diphthongs,  which  Swedish  and  Danish  change  to  long  vowels  : 

these  last  again  preserve  certain  initial  consonantal  combinations, 
lost  or  only  partly  pronounced  in  Icelandic  and  Norwegian. 

Norwegian,  whose  literature  is  purely  popular,  lias  lost  much 
ground,  to  the  advantage  of  Swedish,  which  possesses  a  genuine 
literature.  Swedish  not  only  occupies  a  large  part  of  the  Scandi- 
navian peninsula,  lmt  is  also  spread  over  two  tracts  of  the  Finland 
roast,  one  on  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia,  with  Vaza  as  its  central  point, 
about  fifty  leagues  in  length,  but  very  narrow.  The  other,  which 
is  more  important,  occupies  the  western  portion  of  the  northern 
shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  with  Helsingfors  for  its  central 
point.  Landwards  both  of  these  territories  are  encircled  by 
Suomi  or  Finnish-speaking  races. 

Swedish  may,  in  a  general  way,  be  said  to  have  preserved  the 
main  features  of  old  Norse  better  than  has  the  Danish.  The  con- 
sonants, k,  f,  p,  for  instance,  when  final,  are  weakened  to  g,  d,  b, 
in  Danish,  while  they  remain  unchanged  in  Swedish.  In  fact,  of 
all  the  Norse  tongues  actually  spoken,  Danish  is  the  most  modern 
in  its  forms.  It  is  not  only  spoken  in  Denmark  but  currently 
written  in  Norway,  and  spoken  there  by  the  educated  classes, 
Norwegian  having  sunk  to  the  position  of  a  purely  vulgar 
tongue.  Danish  is  also  diffused  over  the  northern  portion  of 
Slesvig,  including  the  city  of  Flensborg.  However,  there  are 
several  varieties.  Its  oldesl  records  date  from  the  thirteenth 
century,  lmt  its  presenl  form  seems  to  have  grown  out  of  the 
Zeeland  dialect  in  tie-  sixteenth  century.  Its  vocabulary  includes 
a  number  of  foreign  words,  borrowed  from  Latin,  Swedish.  French, 
and  especially  <  lernian. 

(3)   '/'/"    Low  German   Ch'oup. 

Tin  i  branch  of  the  Teutonic  tongues  is  splil  up  into  a  considerable 
number  of  offshoots.     It  would  seem  to  have  firsl  of  all  given  birth 

to  two  distinct   varieties,  the  Saxon  and  tie-  Frisic,  the   former  again 

giving  rise  directly  or  indirectly  to  some  half-dozen  languages,  the 

s 


258  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

whole  being  usually  comprised  in  some  such  scheme  as  the  sub- 
joined : 

Anglo- Saxon — English 

/Saxon/  /Low  German  proper  (Platt-Deutsch) 

\01d  Saxon/  /Dutch 

^Frisic  Netherlandish^ 

xFlemish 

"We  have  no  direct  knowledge  of  the  common  primitive  Low 
German  form  of  speech,  any  more  than  of  the  common  primitive 
Saxon  tongue,  whence  came  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  old  (or 
Continental)  Saxon.  These  two  last,  however,  are  historic  languages, 
thoroughly  well  known. 

The  Old  Saxon  was  spoken  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Elbe,  to  the 
south  of  the  Frisic,  which  occupied  the  extreme  north  (western) 
districts  of  Germany.  Of  this  old  Saxon  tongue  we  possess  an 
important  record  in  the  Christian  poem  of  the  Heliand  =  Healer  = 
Saviour,  extant  in  two  manuscripts  of  the  ninth  century.*  Anglo- 
Saxon  (literature)  dates  from  the  seventh  century,  at  least  in 
England,  to  which  period  is  referred  its  great  epic  "  The  Beowulf." 
[But  the  MS.  of  this  poem  in  British  Museum,  Cott.  Vitellius,  a  15, 
is  referred  by  Grein  to  the  tenth  century,  though  it  probably 
represents  the  West-Saxon  speech  of  the  seventh.]  The  forms  of 
these  two  old  Low  German  languages  did  not  greatly  differ,  though 
presenting  certain  strongly  marked  divergences,  especially  in  their 
phonology.  The  old  Saxon  vowel  system  is  much  simpler  than 
that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  which  is  very  complex,  and  its  vocalismus 
remarkably  complete. 

Anglo-Saxon  is  divided  into  two  periods,  the  first,  the  Anglo- 

*  "Heliand:  Poema  Saxonicum  Sseculi  noni,"  Edidit  I.  Andreas  Schrneller, 
Monachii,  Stuttgartise,  Tubinga;,  1830;  also,  "  Glossarium  Saxonicum  e 
poemate  Heliand,"  1840. — Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIED   FORM   OP   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  259 

Saxon  period  proper,  reaching  to  the  beginning  -of  the  twelfth 
century;  the  second,  a  semi-Saxon,  to  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth. 
[The  term  semi-Saxon  is  now  mostly  discarded  by  English  philo- 
logists, though  they  have  scarcely  yet  hit  upon  a  convenient 
substitute  for  this  transition  period.  In  his  history  of  the  English 
language,  1861-7-\  the  translator  has  used  the  term  Broken  Saxon 
for  lack  of  a  better.]  The  first  stage  of  early  English  is  about 
equally  long,  extending  from  1250  to  about  1350,  and  with  it  there 
begins  a  rapid  decay  of  forms  (and  endings,  which,  however,  had  set 
in  long  before).  Of  the  old  cases  there  now  remains  the  genitive 
only,  which  is  itself  often  replaced  by  relational  particles.  In  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  begins  the  middle  English  period, 
which  lasts  for  two  hundred  years,  and  during  which  the  process  of 
disintegration  goes  on  with  accelerated  speed,  so  that  when  the  new 
era.  or  modern  English  period,  sets  in,  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  language  is  found  to  have  become  almost 
entirely  analytical.  * 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  no  two  authors  arc 
quite  of  accord  as  to  the  proper  distribution  of  the  various  stages  of  the 
English  language.  Some  learned  and  noisy  pedants  will  even  insist  upon 
rejecting  the  nomenclature  by  which  the  old  or  synthetic  is  clearly  distin- 
guished  from  the  modern  or  analytic  state  of  the  language.  They  will  not 
hear  of  the  convenient,  and  in  fact  almost  indispensable,  terms  Saxon  and 
Anglo-Saxon,  and  will  have  nothing  but  English  and  old  English  for  all  the 
stages  of  a  language  that  differs  much  more  at  its  two  extremes  than  does 
the  modern  Italian  from  classic  Latin.  The  grounds  of  their  violent 
opposition  to  the  terms  Saxon  and  Anglo-Saxon  are  based  partly  upon  a 
mistaken  national  sentiment,  partly  upon  the  practice  of  Alfred,  and  partly 
upon  the  supposed  danger  <>f  destroying  bhe  l"  to  ic  continuity  of  our 
ing  of  its  different  stages  under  different  names.  This  last 
■nt  being  the  weakest  of  all,  is  thai  which,  as  usual,  is  mosi  insisted 

Upon.       [t   18  as   if   an   Italian   Bhould    object    io  lib  died   liihjuo, 

1  •  ■  or  ,""  Italiana,  lest  its  lineal  descent  from  Latin  might  bo 
therel  d.     And  ye'    the   Italian  bas  really  far  more  righl  to  speak 

of  liis  tongue  as  Latin  than  we  have  to  confound  the  languages  of  Alfred 
and  of  Shakespeare  under  one  nomenclature,  the  difference  between  the 
first  two  being  so  much  less  than  thai    i         a     between  the  latter,     Or,  to 
the  argument  a  step  farther,  it  is  as  it'  a  French  philol  u    mad 

should  object  to  his  speech  !  oribed  as  French  or  Romance,  or  even 

Deo-Latin,  and  insist  upon  its  being  called   [ndo*European,  bo  show  it* 

a  -i 


260  THIRD   FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

The  English  dialects  are  numerous,  but  they  may  all  be  said  to 
have  reached  the  same  state  of  grammatical  simplicity.  They, 
however,  all  of  them/  in  common  with  the  literary  standard,  retain 
enough  grammar  to  show  the  essentially  Teutonic  character  of  the 
language.  The  introduction  of  a  large  number  of  French  (and 
book-Latin)  words  into  its  vocabulary  in  no  way  affects  its  grammar, 
as  has  been  supposed  and  asserted.  English  is  not  a  mixed  tongue, 
but  thoroughly  Teutonic  (in  its  structure),  though  its  accidence  has 
suffered  more  than  that  of  any  other  cognate  language. 

Returning  to  the  second,  or  old  Saxon  branch,  we  have  already 
remarked  that  its  vowel  system  was  much  simpler  than  the  Anglo- 

historical  connection  with  the  Aryan  inflectional  system,  and  lest  it  might 
be  mistaken  for  some  agglutinating  or  polysynthetic  form  of  speech.  Let  it 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  two  extremes  of  our  language  differ  materially  in 
two  essential  points — their  structure  and  their  vocabulary — the  one  being 
largely  synthetic  and  homogeneous,  the  other  being  of  all  non-isolating 
languages  the  most  analytical,  and  of  all  cultivated  tongues  the  most 
heterogeneous  in  its  vocabulary,  the  Persian,  perhaps,  alone  excepted. 
Hence  the  inconvenience  of  speaking  of  the  whole  historic  period  under  one 
name  is  so  great  that  if  two  terms  did  not  exist  it  would  be  desirable  to 
invent  a  second.  Alfred's  practice  is  nothing  to  the  point.  Whatever  he- 
called  it,  the  language  he  spoke  and  wrote  iu  was  Southern — that  is,  a  West- 
Saxon  dialect,  and  nothing  else — and  hence  is  now  properly  called  Saxon. 
If  the  term  "  Englisc  "  began  in  his  time  to  be  spread  southwards,  it  was 
simply  due  to  imitation  mainly  of  Bede,  who,  being  a  Northerner  and 
writing  in  Latin,  properly  spoke  of  his  people  as  Angli,  though  also  in  many 
places  using  the  term  Saxon,  even  when  speaking  of  all  the  Teuton 
inhabitants  of  Britain  collectively,  just  as  the  Englishman  Boniface  in  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century  spoke  of  his  country  as  Saxonia  transmarina, 
in  a  letter  to  Pope  Zachary.  It  should  be  also  remembered  that  the 
Northern,  or  Anglian,  dialect  was  the  first  to  be  cultivated,  whence  the  term 
Etujlisc,  correctly  used  by  the  northern  writers,  came  readily  to  be  adopted 
in  the  south  when  the  southern  dialect  began  to  be  written.  But,  however 
called,  the  fact  remains  that  nearly  the  whole  of  extant  Anglo-Saxon 
literature  is  composed  in  this  Southern  or  West-Saxon  dialect,  and  is  there- 
fore scientifically  not  English,  or  Anglian,  at  all,  but  Saxon  in  the  strictest 
sense  of  the  word.  Thus,  then,  this  term  is  in  every  way  justified,  and  will 
doubtless  hold  its  ground  in  spite  of  all  the  empty  clamour  to  the  contrary. 
It  has  national  instinct  on  its  side,  which  is  a  more  potent  factor  than  false 
sentiment,  and  often  quite  as  correct  as  the  soundest  scholarship. — Note  by 
Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD    FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  261 

Saxon,  possessing  far  less  vowel  sounds.  The  same  holds  true  of 
its  modern  representatives,  whose  vocalismus  is  also  far  less  complex 
than  the  English.  Of  these  there  are  two  divisions — the  Low 
<  rerman  proper  and  the  Netherlandish. 

The  Low  (ii  rman  proper,  or  Piatt  Devisch,  is  the  current 
speech  of  the  lowlands  of  north  Germany.  Eastwards  it  has  en- 
croached considerably  on  the  regions  Avhere  were  formerly  spoken 
Slavonic,  and  even  Lettic  idioms,  such  as  old  Prussian  ami  Lithu- 
anian. But  it  has  never  risen  to  the  position  of  a  cultivated 
tongue,  all  essays  made  in  this  direction  having  been  rendered  for 
ever  fruitless  by  the  preponderance  of  High  German. 

The  Netherlandish,  or  second  branch  of  the  Old  Saxon,  is  divided 
into  two  varieties,  closely  akin,  if  not  almost  identical — the  Dutch 
and  Flemish.  The  latter  is  often  wrongly  regarded  as  a  dialect  of 
the  former.  They  stand  both  on  the  same  level,  being  so  nearly 
related  that  they  have  justly  been  said  to  differ  in  pronunciation 
alone.  Flemish  is  still  spoken  by  about  2,500,000  people,  and 
Dutch  approximately  by  3,500,000,  making  altogether  about 
C.i ii mm ii ii i.  including  the  French  Flemings  of  the  Departement  du 
NorcL 

The  frontier  line  between  French  and  Flemish  passes  in  the  math 
below  (Iravelines,  Hazel aouck,  Courtrai,  Halle,  Brussels,  Louvain, 
and  Tongres  \  in  the  south  above  Calais,  Saint-Omer,  Armentieres, 
Tourcoing,  Ath,  Nivelles,  I.;  -  .  and  Verviers. 

We  have  so  far  spoken  of  one  branch  only  of  Low  German,  that 
is  the  Saxon.  The  other  is  immeasurably  Less  important,  compris- 
ing the  Frisic  only,  a  somewhat  ancient  variety  spoken  on  the 
coast  of  the  North  Sea,  as  well  on  the  mainland  as  in  the  Islands 
facing  it.  The  Frisians  seem  to  have  shrunk  from  taking  part  in  the 
migrations  that  the  other  Low  German  tribes  undertook,  preferrinj 
t'.  remain  in  their  native  homes,  where  their  speech  retained  ci  i 
very  old  characteristics,  in  spite  of  the  influence  exercised  mi  it  by 
the  neighbouring  Dutch,  Danish,  and  Piatt  Deutsch  dialects.  [This 
statement  about  ih  I  home  "  character  of  the  Frisians  must 

he  received  wi  jerve,  there  being  ■ I  grounds  ha 

pecting  ila'  existence  of  a  good  deal   of  Frisian   blood   in  almost 


262  THIRD   FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

every  part  of  England  and  the  Scotch  Lowlands.]  Frisic  has  long 
ceased  to  he  cultivated,  having  heen,  like  the  Piatt  Deutsch,  com- 
pletely overshadowed  hy  the  High  German  literary  standard.* 

When  speaking  higher  up  of  the  Gothic  tongue,  allusion  was 
made  to  a  Teutonic  phonetic  principle  secondary  to  the  general  law 
hy  which  the  organic  explosives  are  strengthened,  and  which 
prevails  throughout  the  four  "branches  of  this  family.  And  we 
remarked  at  the  time  that  this  new  phenomenon  is  nowhere  more 
easily  to  he  detected  in  active  operation,  than  in  the  various 
members  of  the  Low  German  branch.  This  statement  we  shall  now 
proceed  to  illustrate. 

We  know  that  in  virtue  of  the  general  principle  already  ex- 
plained, the  organic  explosives  Jc,  t,  p,  became  in  the  Teutonic 
system  true  fricatives,  h,  tit,  f.  The  new  phenomenon  Ave  now 
come  to,  consists  in  a  further  modification  of  these  letters,  which  at 
times  became  g,  d,  b,  and  this  in  all  the  Germanic  tongues.  But 
this  change  was  not  effected  abruptly,  there  having  been  an  inter- 
mediate stage  betAveen  h  and  g,  th  and  d,  /,  and  b.  And  it  is  here 
that  the  Low  German  idioms  are  of  such  extreme  importance, 
often,  in  fact,  showing  the  simultaneous  existence  of  these  various 
terms  of  the  series.  Thanks  to  them  we  knoAV  that  the  intermediate 
betAveen  the  sharp  fricative  and  soft  explosive  Avas  the  correspond- 
ing soft  fricative.  Thus  the  transition  from  /  to  b  is  effected  by  v ; 
from  h  to  g  hard  by  a  soft  h  ;  from  the  English  th  hard  to  the  soft 

*  The  oldest  Frisian  records  extant  are  some  legal  documents  referred  to 
about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  There  has  recently  appeared 
an  extraordinary  work  under  the  title  of  "  The  Oera  Linda  Book,  from  a 
MS.  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  original  Frisian  text,  accompanied  by 
an  English  version  of  Dr.  Ottema's  Dutch  translation,  by  W.  R.  Sandbach," 
London :  Triibner  and  Co.,  1876.  This  MS.,  its  Dutch  editor  asks  us  to 
believe,  is  but  a  copy  of  an  older  one  still,  that  being  in  its  turn  a  copy  of 
another,  and  so  on  back  to  the  original,  composed  mainly  in  the  year  B.C. 
559.  It  purports  to  give  an  account  of  the  wanderings  and  earliest  settle- 
ments of  the  Frisian  people,  but  teems  with  such  gross  absurdities  and 
glaring  anachronisms,  both  philological  and  chronological,  that  it  is  not  likely 
to  deceive  anyone  at  all  competent  to  form  an  opinion  as  to  its  authenticity. 
As  literary  forgeries  the  poems  of  "  The  Monk  Rowley  "  were  triumphs  of 
genius  compared  with  this  clumsy  and  impudent  fraud.— Note  by  Translator,. 


Chap,  y.]         THIED    FOKM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  263 

d  by  the  English  th  soft,  making  altogether  three  successive  stages, 
which  will  be  made  clear  by  one  or  two  examples.  The  organic 
pronoun  ta,  by  passing  from  a  strong  explosive  to  a  sharp  fricative, 
appears  in  Gothic  as  tha  (th  hard),  while  in  the  English  article  the, 
this  sharp  fricative  has  become  soft,  and  in  the  Dutch  and  Flemish 
de  we  see  the  evolution  fully  carried  out.  Thus  also  the  Dutch 
doom  answers  to  the  Gothic  thaurnus  — thorn,  voor  to  faur  —  iov, 
vol  =  fulls  —  fall.  At  the  same  time  the  English  does  not  always 
stdp  at  the  intermediate  letter  on  the  one  hand,  nor  does  it  on  the 
other  always  pass  over  to  that  letter,  but  the  frequent  occurrence 
of  th  hard  showing  it  still  in  the  first  period  ;  the  word  just  quoted, 
thorn,  for  instance,  standing  with  the  Gothic  in  the  first  stage, 
as  compared  with  the  Dutch  doom  in  the  third.  But  this  in  no 
way  affects  the  principle,  and  a  time  may  be  confidently  anticipated 
when  every  th  in  English  will  have  become  d,  as  is  already  the  case 
in  Dutch  and  Flemish.  A  number  of  English  dialects  have 
already  arrived  at  this  third  period,  as  shown  by  dey  for  they,  de 
for  the,  in  Kent  and  Sussex,  and  vor  for  for  in  the  Isle  of  "Wight, 
/  becoming  v  in  the  same  way  in  Dorsetshire,  Devonshire,  and 
Somersetshire.  The  literary  standard  will,  in  its  turn,  have 
eventually  to  suffer  the  successive  modifications  that  its  dialects 
are  now  passing  through.    [On  the  other  hand,  the  literary  standard 

■.  and  the  spread  of  education,  are  meantime  acting  as  a  most 

powerful  check  against  this  very  tendency,  so  that  the  modifications 

above  spoken  of,  instead   of  being  further  developed,  are  actually 

dying  oul   in  many  parts  of  the  country,  where  a  corresponding 

t   in  in  favour  of  the  older  pronunciation.     Tims, 

in    the    lde   of    Wight,  where  even  the  bard   th    had   in   some  cases 

i  ov<  r  to  the  soft  d,  such  expressions  as  "dree  or  war  years 

common   enough    some    years    hack,  are  now  rarely  heard, 

pi  among  the  extremely  old  and  extremely  young.  The 
School  Board  here,  as  elsewhere,  show-,  itself  the  implacable  enemy 

I  dialectic  variety,  and  is  everywhere  effecting  changes  in  the 
'  ervative  interest,  thai  is.  running  counter  to  the  tendency 
spoken  of  above.  ] 


26-4  THIRD    FORM    OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chai>.  t. 

(4)  The  High  German  Group. 

New  High  German  occupies  a  wide  domain  in  the  very  heart 

of  Europe.  In  the  northern  lowlands  it  is  the  literary  and  culti- 
vated language  of  countries  where  Low  German  proper  is  spoken, 
and  as  such  it  reaches  as  far  as  Flenshorg,  in  South  Sleswig. 
Towards  the  north-east  it  extends  almost  to  the  Kussian  frontier. 
where,  however,  a  narrow  Lithuanian  strip  maintains  itself,  helow 
Memel  and  Tilsit.  A  more  extensive  Polish  tract  shuts  it  off  from 
the  frontiers  of  Poland  ;  but  even  here  it  at  least  occupies  all  the 
chief  places,  such  as  Graudenz,  Thorn,  Posen,  and  Oppeln.  In- 
closing east  and  west  the  Tzech  or  Bohemian  territory,  and  coming 
southward  by  the  neighbourhood  of  Pilsen  and  Budweis,  towards 
Briinn,  in  Moravia,  the  German  frontier  reaches  Presburg,  for  some 
forty  leagues  skirting  the  Magyar  territory,  and  takes  in  north 
Styria  (Gratz),  north  Carinthia  (Klagenfurt),  the  greater  part  of 
Tyrol,  and  three-fourths  of  Switzerland.  Leaving  Belfort  on  the 
west,  it  returns  northwards  by  the  Yosges,  as  far  as  Strasburg, 
then  turns  obliquely  towards  the  north-west  so  as  to  inclose  Thion- 
ville  and  Arlon.  Thence  extending  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  it  henceforth 
folloAvs  very  closely  the  Netherlandish  frontier.  In  the  Austrian 
Empire  it  is  spoken  by  about  9,000,000,  and  in  Switzerland  by  nearly 
2,000,000. 

New  High  German  dates  from  the  sixteenth  centurj'.  The 
Teutonic  branch,  which  it  represents,  had  previously  passed 
through  two  stages — the  old  High  German  and  the  middle  High 
German.  With  these  our  survey  of  the  Teutonic  tongues  must 
conclude. 

Of  High  German  there  are  two  kinds,  the  strict  grammatical 
language,  and  the  current  speech  that  has  not  conformed  to  the 
common  law.  These,  however,  are  not  two  distinct  languages,  but 
one  and  the  same  substantially,  each  containing  about  ecmal  parts 
(if  the  two  elements.  This,  as  we  shall  see,  is  owing  to  the  fact 
that  German  was  developed  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  courts,  and 
does  not  therefore  represent  any  particular  dialect  that  has  passed 
from  the  vulgar  to  the  literary  state. 


Cuap.  v.]         THIRD    FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  265 

The  fundamental  but  extremely  simple  principle  of  this  gram- 
matical style  consists  in  a  further  strengthening  of  the  organic 
explosives.  We  have  seen  that  the  primitive  Aryan  gh,  dh,  bh 
had  become  g,  <K  h,  in  Gothic,  Low  German,  and  Norse.  They  are 
now  further  strengthened  to  k,  t,  p,  in  High  German.  Again,  the 
organic  g,  d,  b,  having  become  k,  t,  p  in  the  Low  German  group, 
they  are  in  the,  same  way  further  strengthened  in  High  German, 
/•  changing  to  //  (also  written  Iih  and  eh),  p  to /(also  written  pf  or 
////).  while  t,  instead  of  becoming  ///  fricative,  changes  to  ts  written 
as  ::.  The  organic  explosives,  k,  t,  p,  having  become  h,  th,  f,  in  the 
Low  German  idioms,  High  German  retains  the  h  and  /,  which 
were  incapable  of  being  further  strengthened,  while  to  the  ///  soft 
it  applies  the  law  of  "  polarity,"  this  third  series  thus  reappearing 
in  Eigh  ( rerman  as  A,  d,  f. 

This  is  the  reason  why  a  German  d  answers  to  the  English  th, 
i/i-r,  dorn,  drei,  diinn,  standing  for  the,  thorn,  three,  thin.  And 
here  again,  as  in  all  the  other  cases,  English  is  thus  one  degree 
(sometimes  two)  purer  than  German,  zcihmer,  zcihre,  zu,  zwei  being 
in  this  respect  less  pure  than  tame,  tear,  to,  two.  Hence  the 
absurdity  of  deriving  English  from  High  German,  from  which  it 
would  lie  just  as  reasonable  to  derive  the  Gothic  itself.  They  are 
two  parallel  branches,  the  phenomenon  of  a  further  strengthening 
of  certain  consonants  rendering  German  unquestionably  inferior  to 
English 

All  the  High  German  dialect,  have  changed  to  /,  z,  </.  thee?,  th,  / 
of  the  Low  German  group \  ami  on  this  account  they  so  far  belong 
to  the  strict  High  German  division.  Bui  the  case  is  differenl  with 
tic-  two  other  orders  of  consonants,  some  only  of  these  idioms 
having  changed  /.■  aid  g  of  the  first  stage  to  A,  /,-,  and  /\  b,  to/,  p. 
Thai  i-  t>.  say,  some  only  of  them  have  worked  out  the  principle  to 
dlesl  extent.  Whil-t  Gothic,  foi  in  tance,  says  brinnan  —  to 
hum.  some  High  German  dialects  say,  prinnan,  and  the  e  con 
quently  belong  to  the  stricl  division;  hut  others  have  not 
strengthened  the  &,  and  the  presenl  literarj  German  writes  bn 
The  (lot hie  galeiks  like,  appears  in  the  Btricl  old  High  German  as 
kilih,  lnit  the  literary  language  again   writes  gleich.     So  also  the 


26G  THIRD   FORM   OF  SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

Gothic  laivuan  =  to  ken,  to  know,  becomes  in  the  strict  High 
German  chunnan  (where  rh=h),  and  in  literary  German  fcennen. 
But,  as  stated,  the  evolution  has  been  completely  worked  out  in 
the  case  of  the  dental  series. 

Old  High  German  comprises  three  principal  dialects,  themselves 
sul  (divided  into  a  number  of  less  important  varieties..  The  three 
main  divisions  are  :  The  Franhish,  Alamanno-Swabian,  and  Austro- 
Bavarian,  their  literary  remains  ranging  from  the  seventh  to  the 
eleventh  century.  The  leading  feature  of  these  idioms  is  their 
retention  of  the  old  vowel  endings  :  nimu  =  I  take  ;  nimit  =  he 
takes  ;  nemat  =  you  take.  With  the  twelfth  century  we  shall  see 
that  these  vowels  began  to  change  to  e  or  disappear  altogether. 
Old  High  German  had,  properly  speaking,  no  national  literature ;  it 
possesses  a  number  of  versions  of  religious  works  and  some 
Christian  poems,  but  no  genuine  Teutonic  records. 

Middle  High  German  sets  in  with  the  twelfth  century,  when  its 
literature  returns  to  the  old  traditions  and  legends  neglected  by  the 
old  High  German ;  but  these  national  subjects  are  now  contem- 
plated  through  the  medium  of  Christian  thoughts  and  conceptions. 
This  period,  which  lasts  about  four  hundred  years,  is  the  age  of  the 
renowned  Minnesingers,  Walther  von  der  Vogelweide,  Wolfram 
von  Eschenbach,  Mthart,  Heinrich  von  Morungen,  Tanhuser. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  the  language  of  this  period  is  the 
absorption  in  e  of  the  different  vowels  of  the  final  grammatical 
syllables.  Thus  the  old  High  German  gibu  now  becomes  gibe  = 
I  give.  The  various  old  High  German  dialects  were  also  subjected 
to  tliis  law,  whilst  continuing  each  to  preserve  its  own  individuality 
and  special  character.  There  was,  however,  formed  a  literary  and 
Court  standard,  based  on  the  Swabian  dialect,*  which  had  no 
precedent  in  the  foregoing  period. 

Two  striking  facts,  says  Schleicher,  distinguish  middle  from 
modern  High  German.  In  the  first  the  radical  syllable  is  some- 
times  long  and  sometimes  short]  in  the  second  it  is  always  long 
and  accented.     Hence  accent  in  modern   German   determines  the 

*  Schleicher,  "Die  Deutsche  Sprache,"  2nd  ed.  p.  103  and  following. 
Stuttgart.  1869. 


Chap,  v.]         THIED   FOKM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  267 

length  of  the  syllable  it  falls  on,  that  is  the  radical.  The  other 
point  he  thus  explains  :  "  In  old  High  German  we  have  to  do  only 
with  the  dialect  of  whoever  happened  to  he  writing.  There  was 
no  literary  standard  in  general  use,  and  claiming  superiority  over 
the  other  dialects.  During  the  period  of  middle  High  German  a 
more  general  language  was  developed,  that  of  the  Courts.  Modem 
German  is  still  less  a  particular  dialect  than  was  the  middle  High 
German  of  the  Courts.  It  is  not  the  speech  of  any  particular 
locality,  having  never  been  spoken  by  any  community.  This  is 
tin-  reason  why  German  is  so  artificial,  and  why  in  its  phonology 
and  formations  it  is  often  so  unnatural  But  on  the  other  hand, 
from  the  very  fact  of  its  unprovincial  character,  it  accpiires  the 
power  of  serving  as  a  bond  of  union  between  the  various  Germanic 
branches." — {Op.  cit.  ibid.) 

German  can  be  traced  step  by  step  from  the  time  of  Luther  down 
to  the  presenl  day.  During  this  period  of  three  hundred  years  it 
has  doubtless  undergone  many  modifications,  but  it  is,  in  substance, 
always  one  and  the  same  language.  We  see  it  taking  its  rise  in 
the  Chancelleries  in  the  sixteenth  century;  we  see  the  diplomatic 
documents  borrowing  arbitrarily  from  the  various  current  forms  of 
speech,  so  that  German,  in  a  sense,  is  born  on  paper.  Thanks  to 
the  hitltieiiee  of  these  official  deeds,  thanks  above  all  to  the  spread 
of  Lutheranism,  it  gradually  makes  its  way,  penetrating  into  the 
sanctuary,  into  the  schoolroom,  into  the  courts  of  justice.  The 
vulgar  idioms  yield  slowly  before  it,  until  at  last  they  find  them 
banished  to  the  rural  districts. 

[t  must,  however,  be  confessed  that  the  eccentric  orthography 
with  which  it  was  handicapped  was  not  at  all  calculated  to  speed 
its  literary  diffusion.  There  is  nothing  more  arbitrary  [excepl  the 
h  and  English  systems]  than  this  orthography.  To  lengthen 
vowels  an  //  is  sometimes  placed  after  bhem,  a  Letter  answering 
t',  absolutely  nothing  in  the  pasi  lih-  of  the  word  thus  dis- 
figured; long  vowel  i  d ted    bj    doubling  them,  and  as 

their  Length  ;-  on  other  ■  denoted  \<\  no  expedient  al  all,  il 

follows  that  a  Long  a  may  be  rendered   in  three  differenl  ways     by 

i  iple  ".  by  ah,  and  bj  aa,  as  i    the  ca  e  with  the  three  words 


268  THIRD   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

zicar,  wahr,  haar.  Again,  instead  of  a  simple  i,  we  often  meet  with 
ie,  while  i  alone  frequently  occurs  where  historical  etymology 
would  require  ie.  Lastly,  what  is  no  less  whimsical,  t  is  often 
replaced  by  th.  Many  efforts  have  been  made  at  effecting  at  least 
a  partial  reform  of  modern  German  spelling,  and  these  efforts  will 
no  doubt  be  renewed,  but  we  can  hardly  believe  they  will  ever 
prove  successful. 

§  8. — The  Slavonic  Languages. 

The  Slavonic  tongues  during  Medieval  times  (seventh,  eighth, 
and  ninth  centuries)  occupied  extensive  tracts  where  German  alone 
is  now  spoken.  .Such  were  Pomerania,  Mecklenburg,  Branden- 
burg, Saxony,  West  Bohemia,  Lower  Austria,  the  greater  part  of 
Upper  Austria,  Xorth  Styria,  and  North  Caxinthia.  Slavonic 
tongues  were  thus  spoken  in  the  localities  now  occupied  by  Kiel, 
Lubeck,  Magdeburg,  Halle,  Leipzig,  Baireuth,  Linz,  Saltzburg, 
Gratz,  and  Vienna. 

The  Slavonic  tongues  are  generally  divided  into  two  principal 
groups.  But  before  specifying  them,  or  attempting  a  general 
classification  of  all  the  members  of  this  family,  it  Avill  be  first 
necessary  to  broach  the  subject  of  the  old  ecclesiastical  Slavonic 
language. 

In  the  seventh  century  the  Slave  races  had  reached  their  extreme 
western  limits,  where  they  found  themselves  exposed  to  the 
influences  of  Christianity  on  the  east  and  south,  from  the  two 
central  points  Constantinople  and  Borne,*  The  Bulgarians,  Serbes, 
and  Bussians  were  visited  by  the  missionaries  from  Constantinople, 
whose  triumphs  were  extremely  rapid.  With  Christianity  a  regular 
liturgy  was  introduced  into  the  Slavonic  language. 

The  apostleship  of  the  brothers  Constantino  (Cyrillus)  and 
Methodius  gave  a  decisive  impulse  to  this  movement.  Towards  the 
middle  of  the  ninth  century  Cyrillus  remodelled  the  Greek  alphabel 
for  the  use  of  the  Slaves  and  Bulgarians,  and  translated  the  Gospels 
and  a  number  of  liturgical  pieces,  thereafter  proceeding  with  his 

*  Schafarik,  "  Gescliichte  cler  Sudslavischen  Lifcteratur,"  iii.   Prague,  1865. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD    FORM    OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.  2(19 

brother  to  the  Slaves  of  Moravia.  Methodius,  Bishop  of  Moravia 
and  Pannonia,  outlived  his  brother,  dying  in  a.d.  885.  The  gospel 
of  Ostromir,  dating  from  a.d.  1056,  is  the  oldest  manuscript  of  the 
language  used  by  CyriUus  and  Methodius,  and  which,  on  account 
of  its  being  employed  in  the  church  service,  is  known  as  Church 
Slavonic,  besides  being  called  by  some  other  titles,  as  we  shall 
presently  sec. 

The  modification  of  the  I  rreei  alphabet  effected  by  CyriUus  came 
to  1)«-  called  Cyrillian  or  Cyrillic,  and  is  still  in  use  in  an  almost 
identical  form  amongst  the  Russians,  Bulgarians,  and  Serbes  [or 
at  Last  such  of  the  latter  as  belong  to  the  "orthodox"  Greek 
Church — that  is,  the  Church  independent  of  Rome.]  The  Runia 
nians,  though  speaking  a  neo-Latin  tongue,  had  also  adopted  this 
alphabet,  but  have  fortunately  since  discarded  it  and  returned  to 
the  Roman  system,  adding  a  number  of  more  or  less  conventional 
bols  for  sounds  peculiar  to  their  language. 

It  is  to  lie  hoped  that  a  day  may  come  when  Russian  literature 
also  may  in  its  turn  give  up  its  traditional  alphabet.  Without 
anticipating  the  circumstances  that  may  bring  about  this  great  and 
fruitful  change,  we  may  believe  that  they  will  not  be  long  deferred, 
advantageous  as  the  reform  would  prove  to  the  civilisation  of  both 
extremities  of  Europe. 

Th-  Slaves  of  the  Latin  rite  made  use  of  another  alphabet,  also 

known  as  the  Glagolitic,  tic  origin  of  which  is  still  obscure.    Some 

have    thought    that    it    was    the    older  of  the  two,   hut  the  most 

nd  likely  opinion  now  is  that  it  is  nothing  hut  a  perver- 

ii    the  Cyrillian.      It  is  supposed  to  date  from  the  end  of  the 

eleventh  century, owing  its  origin  to  the  desire  of  the  south-western 

preserve,    by   means   of   incomprehensible  characters,  a 

liturgy  that  had   been  condemned  by  a  council,      lint  however  this 

:i    m!I  but  proven  thai  I  he  I  rlagolil  ic  alphabel  has  no 

other  origin  than  the  ( !yrj  fcem.* 

*  This  view  would  nol   seem  to  lie  .pi  |, ,.,-,. 

implied.     I'  is  certain!]  not  entertained  by  Miklosich,  a  great  authority  on 

"l   A Iphabet,"  I lr,   Lopi  iu     remarl  a  thai, 
'•'ill,-  Glagolitic  i     ba  ■  '!   oi  itional  alphabet  wbioh  originally  w  < 


270  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

It  is  impossible  now  accurately  to  determine  the  geographical 
limits  of  Church  Slavonic  in  the  ninth  century,  and  those 
who  have  essayed  to  clear  up  this  obscure  point  have  not  arrived 
at  the  same  conclusion.  Some  think  it  was  spoken  in  the  south- 
west of  the  present  Eussia ;  others  in  Moravia,  and  others  again  in 
the  regions  of  the  present  Carinthia,  Croatia,  Slavonia,  and  Servia  ; 
while  some  suppose  that  it  spread  over  the  whole  territory  between 
the  Black  Sea  and  the  Adriatic.  According  to~Dobrovsky,  whose 
opinion  must  always  carry  great  weight  in  all  questions  of  Slavonic 
philology,  it  was  spoken  northwards  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Danube,  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Black  Sea,  passing  through 
Belgrade  and  southwards  as  far  as  Salonika — that  is  in  Servia, 
Bulgaria,  and  Macedonia. 

Church  Slavonic  has  entirely  disappeared  as  a  spoken  idiom,  but 
survives,  as  stated,  as  a  liturgical  language;  not,  however,  with- 
out having  undergone  some  slight  changes,  due  especially  to  the 
influence  of  the  living  tongues,  in  the  midst  of  which  it  was 
employed  as  a  dead  language.  These  changes  have  been  investi- 
gated and  are  well  understood,  now  forming  the  basis  of  the  two- 
fold division  into  old  and  modern  Church  Slavonic.  It  is  the  first, 
of  course,  that  philologists  so  frequently  avail  themselves  of  in  the 
study  of  the  Slavonic  tongues,  although  it  should  not  be  looked  on 
as  the  common  source  of  all  of  them. 

The  Slavonic  idioms  now  spoken  are  the  Russian,  Rutheman, 
Polish,  Tsech,  Slovalcian,  the  two  Sorbian  dialects,  Bulgarian, 
Servo-Croatian,  and  Slovenian. 

The  limits  of  Russian,  northwards  and  eastwards,  are  difficult  to 
determine,  as  it  here  comes  in  contact  with  the  numerous  Uralo- 
Alta'ie  idioms  (Samoyede,  Wogul,  &c),  which  it  is  gradually 
encroaching  on.  Towards  the  Baltic  it  scarcely  touches  the  coast- 
line occupied  by  the  Finnic  idioms  (Suomi  and  Esthonian),  the 

taken  from  the  Greek,  but  was  remodelled  in  the  ninth  century  and  adapted 
to  Christian  literature  by  the  two  Slavonic  apostles,  Cyrillus  and  Methcdius, 
brothers  : "  2nd  ed.  p.  143.  The  Cyrillian  Dr.  Lepsios  attributes  to  St. 
Clemens,  who  introduced  it  soon  after  the  other,  about  a.d.  900.  Ibid.,  p.  147- 
— Note  by  Translator. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  271 

Swedish  (at  Helsingfors),  and  the  Lettic  (Riga,  Mitau)  ;  a  little 
farther  south  it  comes  in  contact  with  Lithuanian.  From  Grodno 
fco  about  a  hundred  leagues  southwards,  and  in  nearly  a  straight 
line,  it  is  flanked  on  the  west  by  Polish  ;  and  lastly,  on  the  south  it 
meets  the  Ruthenian,  of  which  presently. 

These  limits,  however,  comprise  the  so-called  "  White  Russian  " 
dialect,  spoken  by  about  3,000,000.  to  the  north  of  Ruthenian, 
to  the  west  of  Russian,  and  east  of  Lithuanian  and  Polish,  at 
Vitebsk,  Minsk,  Mohilev,  but  whose  literature  is  insignificant. 

Great  Russian,  or  simply  Russian,  as  -written,  is  not  quite  the 
same  as  the  spoken  form,  the  literary  style  having  borrowed  largely 
from  the  Church  Slavonic.  The  oldest  Russian  monuments,  whose 
records  can  be  traced  to  the  eleventh  century,  consist  of  laics  and 
narrative  poems.  Luring  the  eighteenth  century  the  language  was 
reduced  to  uniformity,  thanks  partly  to  the  famous  scholar  and  man 
of  letters  Lomonosov  (1711-66),  after  which  epoch  it  has  shown 
signs  of  an  originality  and  literary  vitality  that  is  too  seldom 
appreciated. 

Russian  grammar,  unfortunately,  presents  serious  difficulties  to 
the  student  familiar  with  the  Romance  and  Teutonic  tongues  alone. 
[ts  phonology  Is  somewhat  complex,  nor  is  thesound  of  the  trowels 
always  the  same.  Tims,  a,  in  untoned  syllables,  is  somewhat  like 
e,  while  e  itself  is  sometimes  open  and  sometimes  shut.  In  un- 
toned syllables  o  is  uttered  like  a,  as  in  kolokol  =  hell,  where  the 
aeei.ni  being  on  the  first,  the  first  o  alone  retains  its  force,  the  others 
becoming  a  :  Jcolakal.  Moreover,  Russian  accent  itself,  like  that  of 
some  cognate  tongues,  is  not  at  all  easy  ;  though  well  enough  known, 
its  laws  are  far  from  all  being  yet  determined. 

Russian  declension  is  much  the  same  as  that  of  its  congeners,  tin- 
only  pant  to  be  noticed  being  lie'  phonetic  laws  more  or  less 
peculiar  to  it.  in  its  conjugation,  it  is  distinguished  by  the  com- 
plete loss  of  two  of  the  old  tenses-    the  aorist  and  the   imperfect 

•  in   Ruthenian,   but  retained  in  Servian  and  I 
and  trace-:  <>f  which  are  to  be  detected  in  the  oldesl    Polish  and 
Tsech  monument  .     Tie  \  are  replaced  in  Russian  by  a  participle  : 
on  dal=he  has  given  (mas.),  dala  fern.,  dala  neuter,  dali  plural  of 


212  THIRD    FORM    OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  V. 

all  genders,  a  periphrasis  which  has  somewhat  the  sense  of  "  I  am 
having  given,  Ave  are  having  given." 

JRuthenian,  called  also  Rusnialc  and  Little-Russian  [and  even 
S7nall-Mussian\,  is  not  a  Russian  dialect,  though  nearer  akin  to  it 
than  any  of  the  other  cognate  tongues.  It  occupies  approximately 
one-fourth  of  European  Russian,  south  of  a  nearly  straight  line, 
passing  above  Vladimir  in  Volhynia,  Kiev,  and  Kharkov.  In 
Austria,  it  is  spread  over  the  greater  part  of  Galicia,  skirting 
Hungary  on  the  north-east,  above  the  Magyar  and  Rumanian. 
The  Russian  Ruthenians,  including  the  Cossacks,  are  about 
11,500,000  and  those  of  Austria  upwards  of  3,000,000,  making 
a  total  of  over  14,500,000  speaking  Little-Russian. 

Their  literature,  like  that  of  the  southern  Slaves,  and  like  that  of 
the-  Russians  themselves,  is  above  all  national  and  traditional.  A 
.great  number  of  compositions  in  Ruthenian  have  within  the  last 
fifty  years  been  published  under  the  titles  of  popular  songs  of 
Ukrania,  national  songs  of  southern  Russia,  of  Galicia,  and 
Volhynia. 

Though  diverging  little  from  Russian,  Ruthenian  still  distinctly 
differs  from  it.  Thus,  it  does  not  convert  into  liquids  all  the  con- 
sonants that  may  be  so  treated  in  Russian,  amongst  others  the 
labials  p,  b,  v,  m.  It  changes  the  older  k  and  r/  to  ck  and  French 
j  oftener  than  Russian  does  ;  its  accent  often  differs ;  it  has  lost  the 
present  participle  passive  retained  in  Russian,  and  it  possesses 
infinitive  forms  with  diminutive  meanings.  These,  with  some  other 
more  or  less  noteworthy  peculiarities,  have  sufficed  to  cause  it  to  be 
treated  as  a  distinct  and  clearly-marked  idiom. 

Polish  comprises  a  number  of  dialects,  the  whole  covering  a  vast 
extent  of  territory,  divided  between  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia. 
Its  eastern  frontier  extends  from  Grodno  to  Jaroslav,  partly  follow- 
ing the  course  of  the  Bug ;  but  its  western  limits  are  less  distinct, 
being  daily  encroached  on  in  this  direction  by  German,  which  has 
already  occupied  all  the  more  important  localities.  In  Austria 
Polish  is  restricted  to  western  Galicia,  a  tract  much  less  in  size  than 
the  eastern  portion  of  the  same  region,  occupied,  as  above  stated, 
by  the  Ruthenians.     German  has  gained  considerably  on  the  Polish 


Chap,  v.]  THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  273 

domain,  its  whole  eastern  territory,  even  in  Russia,  being  inter- 
spersed with.  German-speaking  communities,  some  reaching  almost 
to  the  gates  of  Warsaw;  nor  has  Galicia  escaped  this  invasion, 
due  mainly  to  the  spread  eastwards  of  the  German  Jews. 

The  number  of  Poles  in  Russia  is  set  down  at  4,700,000,  in 
Prussia  at  2,450,000,  and  in  Austria  and  Hungary  at  2,465,000, 
making  an  approximate  total  of  9,615,000  still  speaking  Polish. 

Its  phonology  is  simple  enough,  and  the  alphabet  employed  by 
it  may  be  looked  on  as  one  of  the  most  defective.  Thus  the  sound 
of  <:h  (as  in  church),  instead  of  being  denoted  by  a  single  symbol, 
such  as  the  c  Tsech  and  Croatian,  is  expressed  by  the  combination 
cz,  while  sz  is  made  to  do  duty  for  the  Tsech  and  Croatian  s 
answering  to  our  sli,  and  instead  of  the  Croatian  or  English  v  it 
uses  w  in  the  German  fashion.  Nor  are  these  the  only  short- 
comings of  its  method  of  transcription,  so  that  should  the  pre- 
sent efforts  at  reform  prove  successful,  there  will  be  good  grounds 
for  congratulation. 

Besides  the  rowels  a,  c,  i,  o,  u,  y  (somewhat  like  French  v),  e 
(very  like  i  in  sound),  6  (resembling  the  English  oo),  there  are  two 
nasal  vowels,  answering  to  some  extent  to  the  French  an  and  in, 
but  in  certain  cases,  especially  at  the  end  of  words,  1  icing  uttered 
as  o  and  e.  In  short  they  correspond  to  two  nasal  vowels  of  the 
old  Church  Slavonic,  which  seemed  to  have  answered  to  the  French 
072  and  in.  The  variations  of  the  Polish  consonants,  according  to 
their  juxtaposition  with  certain  other  consonants,  are  somewhat 
important,  as  in  the  ca  e  of  the  fricatives,  which  often  undergo  such 
permutations  as  to  render  the  origin   of   the  word  very  obscure. 

A< nt  is  very  simple,  falling  always  on  the  penultimate,  except  in 

foreign    word-,    whereas   in    Russian    and    Ruthenian,   as  already 

remarked,  it  may  fall  on  any  syllable,  and  we  shall  see  that  the 

i-  the  case  in  Slovenian  and  Croato-Servian,  while  in  Tsech 

and  Sorabian  it  affects  the  first  syllable.     Eence  Polish  La  in  this 

ct  clearly  ■  hied  from  its  congeners. 

Polish  literature  is  at  once  important  and  original,  dating  from 

the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  and  including  a  great   number  of 

chroniclers  and  poei  ,    ome  of  then  as  old  as  the  twelfth.     It 

T 


274  THIRD   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  t. 

continues  still  to  flourish,  and  a  statement  published  in  connection 
with  the  last  Exhibition  of  Vienna  gives  three  thousand  and 
upwards  as  the  number  of  works  either  printed  in  Polish  or  pub- 
lished by  Poles  in  foreign  tongues  during  the  single  year  1871. 

The  actual  limits  of  Tsech  and  of  SlovaJcian,  which  is  closely 
allied  to  it,  are  not  easy  to  determine.  The  region  occupied  by 
them,  comprising  all  Bohemia,  except  a  strip  on  the  west  and  north, 
the  greater  part  of  Moravia,  and  the  tract  to  the  south  of  the  Polish 
domain,  stretches  from  Pilsen  to  the  Carpathians,  for  a  distance  of 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  leagues,  varying  in  breadth  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty.  The  last  official  returns  estimate  the  number 
of  Tsechs,  Moravians,  and  Slovakians  at  about  6,500,000. 

Prom  the  time  of  its  earliest  records,  dating  from  the  eighth 
century,  the  Tsech  language  has  undergone  serious  modifications,  a 
fact  to  be  attributed  to  the  important  political  movements  of 
which  Bohemia  has  been  the  scene.  Nor  do  we  refer  merely  to 
orthographic  differences,  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  oldest  Tsech 
documents  the  Eoman  letters  were  used  in  their  simple  state,  with- 
out being  supplemented  by  the  necessary  diacritical  signs;  the 
changes  alluded  to  affect  the  structure  itself  of  the  language.  The 
reform  of  the  Tsech  orthographic  system,  begun  some  centuries 
back,  was  completed  in  1830,  by  the  substitution  of  the  ordinary 
Eoman  for  the  medieval  Gothic  characters,  and  the  finishing  stroke 
was  given  to  it  some  twenty  years  ago,  by  discarding  the  Polish  and 
German  w  for  the  Latin  v.  This  reform,  so  urgently  needed  in 
itself,  was  of  the  greatest  consequence  for  the  language  also,  and  for 
its  development  and  diffusion.  Nothing  was  more  uncertain  than 
the  old  Tsech  writing  system,  in  which  one  and  the  same  sound  was 
often  denoted  in  three,  four,  five,  and  six  different  ways.  Thus  s 
was  transcribed  by  z,  s,  sz,  szs,  zz,  and  ss  indifferently,  k  by  c,  k,  q, 
ch,  ks,  ck,  and  so  on.  On  the  other  hand,  a  single  Eoman  letter 
often  stood  for  three  or  four  totally  different  sounds,  so  that  the 
difficulty  of  correctly  settling  the  old  Tsech  texts  may  easily  be 
conceived,  with  such  a  system,  or  rather  utter  want  of  system,  as  this. 
The  Tsech  vowels,  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  y  (usually  pronounced  as  i)  have 
all  their  corresponding  long  vowels  now  marked  with  an  oblique 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  275 

stroke :  d,  e,  &c.  Another  Tsech  vowel,  pronounced  ye,  has  no 
diacritical  sign  to  denote  its  long  sound.  Tsech  also  possesses  the 
vowels  r  and  /,  always  short  in  the  ordinary  dialect,  but  which  may 
be  long  in  Slovakian.  But  the  Polish  nasal  vowels  are  unknown, 
nor  have  any  traces  of  them  been  discovered  in  the  oldest  texts. 
The  Tsech  vowels  are  somewhat  shifting,  being  especially  affected 
by  contact  with  a  j  (pronounced  y),  which  changes,  for  instance,  to 
e  and  i  the  following  a  and  e,  and  to  e  the  preceding  a.  The 
consonantal  system  is  rich,  including  some  liquid  dentals,  a  peculiar 
/•  answering  to  the  Polish  rz,  and  with  the  force  of  the  French  rj, 
besides  some  fricatives  readily  affected  by  contact  with  certain  other 
sounds.  It  has  been  above  stated  that  in  Tsech,  the  accent  falls  on 
the  first  syllable  of  every  word.  Let  us  observe,  in  conclusion,  that 
the  old  Tsech  conjugation  was  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  but 
that  the  modern  language,  like  most  of  the  cognate  tongues,  has  lost 
the  old  imperfect  and  aorist. 

Tsech  literature  dates,  as  already  stated,  from  the  eighth  century, 
its   first  records   being  the    celebrated   manuscripts    of  Kralovdor 

rigenhof)  and  of  Zelenohora  (Grunberg),  discovered  in  1817, 
and  the  genuineness  of  which  is  now  established.  They  beloi 
the  transition  period  from  heathendom  to  Christianity,  and  are  as 
important  philologically  as  they  are  for  the  study  of  the  old 
Bohemian  religious  myths.  There  are  also  several  fragments  dating 
from  the  tenth  century.     Down  to  the  epoch  of  the  Hussite  war, 

:nia,    which    had    struck  the  first  note  of  religions  freedom, 

p ,1  the  mo8l  important  of  all  the  Slavonic  literatures.     When 

it    Eel]    under   German    rale,   its  national    speech    was  rigorously 

sribed,  whoever  attempted  to  restore  it  td  its  pristine  honour, 
becoming  the  victims  of  the  Jesuits.     [TheTe  seems  here  to  he  a 
trifling  anachronism,   Bohemia  having  hern  finally  broughl  within 
the  German   political   system   on   the   conclusion  of  the    Bussite 
.    in    l  137  ;  thai    is  to  a    century  before  the 

foundation  <>f  the  order  of  the  ■■  bj    Loyola,    1  1 '. » 1    L556.] 

is  nol  till  towards  the  end  of  the  lasi  centurj   thai    Bohemian 

rs  were  again  r.-vi\ 
The-   Serbian,   or  Bordbian,   called   also    Wendic,  or  l/ueatian 

r  2 


276  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

comprises  two  distinct  varieties,  High  and  Loio  Sorbian  [or,  according 
to  some  Sorbian  writers,  High  Lusatian  and  Wendic].  Its  whole 
territory  is  now  reduced  to  about  twenty-five  leagues  by  twelve, 
watered  by  the  Spree,  two-thirds  in  Prussia,  and  the  rest  on  the 
south  in  Saxony,  its  most  important  points  (Kottbus,  Bautzen) 
being  already  absorbed  by  the  surrounding  German.  A  tract  of 
about  twelve  leagues  separates  the  Sorbian  frontier  southwards  from 
the  northern  Tsech  frontier.  About  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century  the  Lusatian  territory  was  twice  as  extensive  as  at  present, 
and  it  is  being  still  constantly  encroached  on  from  the  north,  west, 
and  east  by  the  German,  so  that  it  now  contains  scarcely  more  than 
a  popidation  of  130,000  speaking  Slave  dialects. 

The  oldest  printed  Wendic  document  is  a  book  of  Catholic 
devotion,  published  in  1512.  During  the  seventeenth  century  there 
were  a  number  of  works  written  in  Sorbian,  but  at  the  beginning  of 
the  ninteenth  this  literature  was  almost  entirely  extinct.  Attempts 
were  later  on  made  to  revive  it,  and  in  1845  a  society  was  formed, 
around  which  the  literary  life  of  the  country  has  rallied. 

The  Servian,  or  Croatia?!,  or  better  still,  the  Servo-Croatian,  with 
its  two  great  intellectual  centres,  Belgrade  and  Agram,  or  Zagreb, 
occupies  a  considerable  position  not  only  amongst  the  south 
Slavonic,  but  amongst  the  Slavonic  tongues  generally,  a  position  it 
is  entitled  to  on  the  threefold  ground  of  its  history,  philology,  and 
geography.  It  is  spread  over  the  principality  of  Servia,  Bosnia, 
Herzegovina,  Montenegro,  a  portion  of  south  Hungary  (Zombor),  Sla- 
vonia,  Croatia,  nearly  the  whole  of  Istria  and  Dalmatia,  a  region 
embracing  altogether  a  popidation  of  about  6,000,000.  In  such 
a  wide  domain  the  dialectic  varieties  are  naturally  somewhat 
numerous  ;  they  may,  however,  be  grouped  in  three  main  divisions — 
the  western,  less  cultivated  than  the  others;  the  southern,  mostly  in 
Dalmatia ;  and  the  eastern,  in  Servia  and  south  Hungary,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Danube.  The  leading  feature  of  these  three  varieties 
is  the  different  pronunciation  of  a  vowel,  which  was  originally 
undoubtedly  an  e.  In  Belgrade,  south  Hungary,  and  Sirmia  it 
still  retains  this  sound,  but  in  the  Avestern  dialect  it  becomes  i,  and 
in  the  southern  je  or  ije  (pronounced  ye  or  iye).     But  whether  you 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  -77 

say  vera,  vira,  or  vijcra  =  heliei ;  reha,  rika,  or  rijeka  =  river,  you 
will  be  readily  understood  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Rumanian 
frontier.  The  Croato-Servian  language  is  unfortunately  burdened 
with  a  twofold  writing  system,  in  the  east  the  Cyrillian,  in  the 
west  the  Latin  alphabet,  supplemented  with  some  accessory  symbols. 
This  much-to-be-regretted  discrepancy  is  the  result  of  the  old 
religious  schism,  and  must  for  a  long  time  delay  the  union  that 
European  civilisation  has  so  much  interest  in  seeing  effected  between 
the  Serbes  of  Turkey  and  the  triple  Dalmato-Croato-Slavonian 
territory.  Xot  that  an  important  step  had  not  already  been  made 
in  this  direction  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  notably  by  the 
sort  of  unification  and  codification  effected  by  the  celebrated  Vouk 
Stephanovich  Karajich  for  the  languages  of  the  Servian  principality 
and  of  south  Hungary. 

When  Vouk  undertook  the  work  he  was  enabled  so  successfully 
to  carry  out,  the  Servian  tongue  could  scarcely  be  said  to  have  yet 
been  settL  1.  Most  of  the  literary  class  considered  as  their  national 
speech  a  somewhat  artificial  idiom  formed  of  old  Church  Slavonic 
elements  blended  with  those  of  the  really  living  and  current  tongue. 
The  latter  was  otherwise  treated  by  them  as  merely  a  vulgar  patois. 
Vouk,  however,  proposed  to  adopt  this  national  speech,  such  as  it 
was,  and  to  radically  reform  its  orthography.  The  struggle  Lasted 
for  half  a  century,  but  he  succeeded  in  the  end,  thanks  bo  his 
perfect  knowledge  of  the  Servo-Croatian  tongue,  as  well  as  to  the 
accuracy  and  scientific  character  of  his  labours. 

The  essence  of  the  Servo-Croatian  literature  is  the  ballad,  or 
national  song,  the  P  ,  Pisma,  or  Pjesma.  A  great  number  of 
these  pieces  have  been  collected  and  published.  Many  are  un- 
doubtedly very  old,  and  the  very  form  in  which  they  still  exist 
shows  how  little  the  language  has  been  changed  during  the  cur-,' 
of  centuries.      Bui   whilsl   its  grammar  has  remained   intact,  the 

; tally  of  the  eastern  varii  Lmitti  -1  far  to,. 

a  Qumber  of  Turkish  words,   to  which   musl    be  added  the 
inroad  of  German  and  French  terms  into  the  current  scientific  and 
i  ech. 
uid  the  Slavonic  countries  belonging  to  the  eastern  rite 


278  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

have  had  a  special  literary  development,  which,  if  little  known,  is 
not  unimportant  in  itself.  It  dates  at  least  from  the  beginning  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  although  the  documents  belonging  to  this 
early  period  are  of  but  little  intrinsic  worth.  Before  this  time,  and 
at  most  before  the  twelfth  century,  there  are  no  records  of  the 
Servian  tongue  beyond  a  series  of  words,  and  of  proper  names 
occurring  mainly  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers. 

The  written  monuments  of  the  western  Servo-Croatian  territory 
date  from  the  twelfth  century,  but  the  choice  literature  of  Ragusi 
was  not  developed  till  the  sixteenth.  Nor  was  it  till  the  4end  of 
the  same  century  that  the  local  Croatian  literature  begins,  a 
literature  that  at  present  occupies  such  an  important  position  in  the 
domain  of  historical  criticism  and  the  science  of  language. 

The  special  study  of  the  Servo-Croatian  tongue  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  in  the  general  study  of  the  Slavonic  group,  ranking 
perhaps  in  this  respect  next  to  the  Church  Slavonic  itself.  In  fact, 
of  all  the  members  of  this  family,  the'  Servo-Croatian  and  the 
Slovenian  are  those  that  have  least  suffered  in  their  phonology,  and 
as  we  have  already  seen,  it  is  precisely  phonology  that  forms  the 
groundwork  of  all  philological  studies.  The  Slavonic  comparative 
grammar  of  Miklosich,*  a  fundamental  work  for  the  study  of  the 
idioms  of  this  group,  at  every  step  supplies  the  most  striking  proofs 
of  the  vast  importance  of  Servo-Croatian,  and  the  perusal  of  the 
excellent  works  of  Danichich,  Jagich,  and  JSTovakovich  must 
remove  the  last  doubts  that  could  be  possibly  entertained  on  the 
subject. 

Servian  phonology,  which  is  by  no  means  complex,  comprises 
six  vowels,  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  and  r ;  and  its  consonantal  system  is  no  less 
simple,  nearly  all  the  sounds  possessing  English  equivalents,  with 
the  notable  exception  of  the  two  liquid  palatals  6  and  gj.  The 
c  has  the  force  of  t  followed  by  the  Scotch  ch,  and  gj  that  of  an 
analogous  d.  The  Servian  accent  is  very  difficult  for  a  foreigner. 
There  are  usually  reckoned  four  kinds  of  accent,  which,  however, 
ought  to  be  reduced  to  two,  a  strong  and  weak,  each  both  long  and 
short.  Servo-Croatian  also  has  a  great  advantage  over  most  of  its 
*  "  Vergleichende  Gram,  cler  Slavischen  Sprache."     Vienna,  1852. 


Chap,  v.]         THIED   FOKM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  279 

congeners,  in  the  retention  of  the  organic  aorist  and  imperfect,  bih 
=fui,  bijah  =  eram;  besides  possessing  a  perfect,  formed  by  means 
of  a  participle  :  sam  bio,  smo  bih'  —  I  have  been,  we  have  been. 

Slovenian,  spoken  by  upwards  of  1,200,000  persons  in  south 
Carinthia  and  south  Styria,  Carniola,  and  a  part  of  north  Istria, 
is  near  akin  to  the  Servo-Croatian,  and  partakes  of  its  important 
philological  position.  Its  written  literature  dates  from  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  though  not  lacking  in  merit,  was 
doubtless  prevented  from  acquiring  a  brilliant  future  by  the 
preponderance  of  Servo-Croatian  letters.  The  Protestant  works 
printed  at  Tubingen  are  the  most  important  monument  of 
Slovenian  literature  in  the  sixteenth  century.  During  the  two 
following  centuries  it  was  ably  represented  by  some  eminent 
writers.  Murko  and  Kopitar  shed  a  lustre  on  their  epoch,  though 
the  latter  wrote  in  German,  an  example  followed  by  his  fellow- 
countryman  and  pupil  Miklosich,  whose  works  place  hhn  in  the 
foremost  rank  of  scientific  writers  of  Slavonic  race. 

Bulgarian  occupies  the  greater  part  of  European  Turkey,  north- 
wards following  the  course  of  the  Danube  from  "Widdin  to 
Silistria,  and  even  beyond  that  point  westwards,  confining  with 
Albania,  southwards  being  separated  from  the  iEgean  and  Sea  of 
Marmora  only  by  some  narrow  strips  along  the  coast,  where  Greek 
and  Turkish  are  spoken,  and  eastwards  at  several  points  reaching 
the    Black  I   sharing   with   Turkish   the  extreme  north-east 

corner  of  the  empire.  The  number  of  those  Bpeaking  Bulgarian 
will  easily  amount  to  G, 000,000,  if  we  include  those  settled  in 
western  Russia  and  in  Bessarabia,  ceded  to  Rumania  by  the 
i  of  Paris. 

Of  all  the  Slavonic  tongues,  modem  Bulgarian  is  the  most 
pt.  In  common  with  Rumanian  and  Albanian,  it  has  the 
peculiarity  of  suffixing  the  article  to  the  end  of  the  word  [ta 
bulary  also  lias  been  greatly  affected  by  the  influence  of  the 
neighbouring  tongues — Turkish,  Greek,  Albanian,  and  Rumanian, 
However,  notwithstanding  the  alteration  of  its  forms,  Bulgarian 
retains  some  traces  of  the  old  Slavonic  nasals  that  have  entirely 
disappeared  from  it-  other  southern  con 


280  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

Bulgarian  literature  is  quite  recent ;  the  few  original  Bulgarian 
writers  until  the  middle  of  this  century  employing  either  Bussian  or 
the  old  liturgical  language,  largely  mixed  with  Bussian.  Latterly 
education  has  spread  among  the  rising  generation,  which  possesses 
periodicals  and  a  literature  daily  on  the  increase.  The  obstacles 
thrown  by  the  Turks  in  the  way  of  the  development  of  the 
European  nationalities  in  Turkey,  unfortunately  compel  the  Bul- 
garians to  study  abroad,  and  there  publish  then  works.  A  literary 
society,  already  occupying  a  position  of  some  influence,  has  lately 
been  founded  at  Braila,  in  Bumania. 

We  may  conclude  this  notice  by  mentioning  the  old  dialects  of 
the  Elbe  Slavonians,  known  by  the  name  of  Polabish,  idioms  now 
extinct,  and  whose  scanty  records,  greatly  affected  by  German 
influence,  date  from  the  seventeenth  and  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Beference  has  already  been  made  to  the  great  importance  of  the 
Church  Slavonic  for  the  study  of  the  other  members  of  this 
family.  Still  it  would  be  in  vain  to  expect  to  find  in  the  grammar 
of  this  tongue  a  very  faithful  reflex  of  the  primitive  Aryan 
speech.  Its  phonology  is  subject  to  far  more  serious  modifications 
than  is  that  either  of  Lithuanian  or  Greek.  Its  vocalismus  is  not 
certainly  very  complex,  although  the  frequent  nasalisation  of 
certain  sounds  is  an  infallible  proof  of  decay,  while  the  final 
vowels  are  greatly  affected  by  certain  very  uniform  laws.  On  the 
other  hand,  its  consonants  are  subjected  to  laws  of  attraction  and 
assimilation  both  very  numerous  and  very  delicate;  nor,  indeed,  is  this 
one  of  the  least  difficulties  presented  by  the  study  of  the  Slavonic 
tongues.  To  a  series  of  rather  complex  phonetic  laws  must  also  be 
added  the  multiplicity  of  the  consonants.  The  Slavonic  tongues, 
above  all  others,  may  be  said  to  require  a  careful  study  of  the 
phonetic  elements  of  speech  and  of  the  rides  regidating  then- 
recurrence.  Doubtless  the  conjugation  is  relatively  simple,  but  the 
declension  has  only  too  frequently  departed  from  the  formula  of 
the  common  Aryan  tongue,  while  the  intricacy  of  the  phonetic 
laws  often  presented  by  the  clash  of  the  theme  with  the  endings 
enhances  the  difficulty  not  a  little. 


Chap,  v.]  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  281 

A  rapid  glance  at  the  grammar  of  this  old  language  will  at  the 
same  time  give  us  an  insight  into  the  general  structure  of  all  the 
Slavonic  tongues. 

Church  Slavonic  has  the  vowels  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  y  (probably 
French  a),  a  shut  e,  sometimes  pronounced  as  ya ;  further,  an  i  and 
a  a  semi-mute ;  and,  lastly,  two  nasals,  answering  in  sound  to  the 
French  in,  on. 

The  organic  Aryan  diphthongs  have  disappeared,  or  rather  have 
been  contracted  to  single  vowels,  and  the  hiatus  is  usually  avoided 
either  by  an  intercalated  j  (the  English  semi-vowel  y)  or  by  a  r, 
both  purely  euphonic,  and  both  occurring  also  at  the  beginning  of 
words  formerly  commencing  with  a  vowel.  Thus  the  common 
Aryan  astasi,  the  Sanskrit  stha,  the  Greek  eare,  the  Latin  estis,  the 
Lithuanian  esie,  becomes  jeste  in  Church  Slavonic;  and  this 
"  preiotation,"  as  it  is  technically  called,  is  a  leading  feature  of  all 
the  Slavonic  tongues,  as  in  the  Tsech  and  Serbian  jeste,  whence 
ste. 

Coining  to  the  consonants^  Church  Slavonic,  together  with  all 
its  congeners,  has  changed  to  the  simple  explosives  g,  d,  b,  the 
Aryan  aspirates*//,,  dh,  bJi.  On  the  other  hand  there  have  been 
developed  a  number  of  fricatives,  such  as  sh,  z,  and  the  French/, 
all  unknown  to  the  common  Aryan,  while  the  influence  of  strict 
phonetic  laws  has  often  changed  the  organic  k  to  ch,  transcribed  l»y 
the  sign  c.  The  various  forms  of  assimilation  have  also  acqub 
great  development,  so  much  so  that  the  study  of  the  Slavonic 
tongues  must  aecessarily  be  preceded  by  at  least  a  rapid  inquiry 
into  their  various  laws  of  assimilation  assimilation,  complete  01 
partial,  of  consonants  with  the  preceding  or  the  lull. .win-  letter, 
and  so  on.  For  wanl  of  al  leas!  some  genera]  notion  of  these  laws 
the  most  mistaken  ideas  are  apt  to  be  formed  on  word  formation. 

The  principle  regulating  the  suppree  ion  of  final  consonants  is 
al '  great  importance.     In  Church  Slavonic  all  final  con  onants 

musl  b  L 

p,  ;  ;.  the  ordinary  nominal. declension,  including  adjectives, 
participli  .  numerals,  and  ome  pronouns,  and  the  pronominal 
declension  proper,  <  Ihurch  Slavonic  po  i  died  compound 


282  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

declension,  peculiar  to  the  Lithuanian  also,  and  (with  a  fresh 
element)  to  the  Teutonic  tongues.  It  is  composed  of  the  ordinary 
adjectival  forms,  to  which  is  added  the  pronoun  i,  also  declined. 
Adjectives,  as  a  rule,  admit  of  both  declensions,  the  normal  and 
the  compound,  their  employment  being  a  question  of  syntax ; 
when  inflected  by  the  compound  declension,  the  adjective  is  said  to 
be  definite,  and  has  the  meaning  of  the  Greek  or  German  adjective 
preceded  by  the  article.  All  the  Slavonic  tongues  possess  this 
compound  declension  ;  thus  the  Servian  says  vast  visoJc  =  a  lofty 
oak  ;  vlsoTil  rast  =  the  lofty  oak. 

Church  Slavonic  has  retained  in  its  conjugation  the  three 
common  Aryan  numbers,  singular,  dual,  and  plural,  but  the  dual 
has  disappeared  from  the  Servo-Croatian,  Bulgarian,  Euthenian,  and 
Russian.  Of  the  four  simple  organic  tenses,  Church  Slavonic  has 
lost  the  reduplicate  perfect  (the  Greek  XeXoma)  and  the  imperfect, 
but  has  retained  nearly  all  the  various  forms  of  the  present  and 
aorist.  It  has  also,  at  least  in  part,  preserved  the  two  primitive 
compound  tenses,  future  and  aorist,  whilst  further  developing 
a  compound  imperfect. 

Of  all  Slavonic  tongues  still  spoken  the  Servo-Croatian  and  the 
Slovenian,  closely  akin  to  it,  possess  the  clearest  and  simplest 
phonology.  Not  that  we  do  not  here  also  meet  with  the 
numerous  euphonic  laws  affecting  consonants  in  juxtaposition,  and 
above  mentioned  in  connection  with  Church  Slavonic.  On  the 
contrary,  they  exist  here  also,  and  are  quite  as  exacting  as  in  any 
other  member  of  the  family ;  but  the  phonetic  element  itself  is 
much  less  complex  in  Servian  than  elsewhere,  besides  which  its 
pronunciation  offers  no  difficulty,  while  in  this  respect  Polish  and 
Tsech  present  formidable  obstacles.  As  for  Bulgarian,  the  changes 
it  has  undergone  in  the  lapse  of  centuries '  have  rendered  it  the 
most  corrupt  of  all  Slavonic  tongues. 

The  classification  of  these  idioms  has  given  rise  to  serious  con- 
troversies, which  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  yet  been  settled. 
Church  Slavonic  was  at  first  looked  on  as  the  common  source  of  all 
the  others,  whence  the  name  of  Palaio-Slave  or  Old  Slavonic,  even 
still    occasionally    applied   to    it.     !Nb    one,    however,    at  present 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  283 

engaged  in  the  study  of  the  Slavonic  group  dreams  of  upholding 
this  theory.  But  after  setting  aside  the  pretended  paternity  of 
Church  Slavonic,  the  cpiestion  arose  whether  it  should  be  placed  on 
the  same  level  as  its  congeners,  and  assume  that  all  had  alike 
sprung  from  a  more  primitive  but  now  lost  common  type  1  With- 
out stopping  at  this  hypothesis,  Dobrovsky  and  Schafarik  divided 
the  Slavonic  idioms  into  two  principal  brandies :  the  western, 
comprising  Polish,  Tsech,  Lusatian,  old  Polabish  ;  and  the  eastern, 
including  all  the  rest.  At  first  Schleicher  proposed  some  objections 
against  this  distribution,  but  ended  by  adopting  it,  and  his  view  of 
the  matter  may  be  conveniently  summed  up  in  the  subjoined 
scheme : 

!  Ancient  and  modern  Bulgarian 
0  01  \  Servian 

Servo-Slavonian  > 
(  Slovenian 

Branch        )  Eastern  Slavonic  \  Great  Russian 
Primitive  ]  ^  (  Little  Russian 

Slavonic  ^  fTsech 

Western      \p0nsh 

Branch       j  Sorbian 
(^Polabish 

Schleicher  may  be  said  to  base  this  division  on  one  solitary  fact. 
In  the  first  group  d  and  I  before  n  or  /  are  suppressed,  while  they 
.are  retained  in  the  second.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  Tsech  oradlo  = 
a  tool  or  instrument,  is  more  correct  than  the  Church  Slavonic 
oralo,  and  than  tie-  Servo-<  Jroatian  rdlo.  1  lanitchitch  dues  m>t  accepl 
the  force  <>f  this  argument,  and  shows  that  this  d  and  /  at  limes 
disappear  in  "Id  and  modem  Tsech  also,  as  well  as  in  Polish  and 
Sorbian,  at  tie-  same  time  proving  that  they  wen-  nut  always  sup- 
pressed, in  Church  Slavonic  and  Servo-Croatian.  While  Schleicher 
looks  on  Church  Slavonic  as  the  old  form  of  the  modern  Bulgarian, 
^r i \- i 1 1 _r  it  tie-  name  "f  ancient  Bulgarian,  Miklosich  thinks  that  the 
old  language  La  now  represented  by  Slo'v  >nian,  as  well  as  by 
Bulgarian,  and  calls  it  ancient  Slovenian.     This  theory  waa  warml] 

•   bleicher,  who,  in  ouropini triumphantly  proved  "ii 

phonetic  grounds  that  tie-  presenl  Slovenian  could  aol  derive  from 
Church  Slavonic,  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Servo-Croatian 


284 


THIRD   FORM   OF    SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 


and  Slovenian  ought  to  be  grouped  together,  an  opinion  also  shared 
in  by  Schafarik.*  Danitchitch  also  has  recently,  on  purely  phonetic 
grounds,  broached  a  very  ingenious  classification  of  the  Slavonic 
tongues.  His  essay  being  written  in  Servian  is  unfortunately 
accessible  to  but  few  readers  ;  but  his  conclusions  may  be  resumed 
as  under  : 


Primitive  Slavonic 


(  Polish  with  Polabish 
(  Tsech  with  Sorbian 

Ruthenian 
Russian 
j  Bulgarian 
(  Slovenian 
Servo-Croatian 


J 


Church  Slavonic 


Several  other  classifications  have  been  proposed,  and  we  have 
doubtless  not  yet  seen  the  last  of  them.  Meanwhile,  to  the  two 
preceding  schemes,  we  may  add  the  following,  which  a  number  of 
authorities  seem  disposed  to  accept  as  final : 

j  Russian 
\   Ruthenian 

(  White  Russian 
Church  Slavonic 
Bulgarian 

J  Servo-Croatian 


South-Eastern 
Branch 


'  Russian 


Bulgarian 


Primitive  Slavonic 


Western  Branch 


Servo-Slovenian  \ 

(  Slovenian 

S  Tsech  and  Slovakian 
Polish 
Sorbian  of  Lusatia 
Polabish 


The  question,  if  the  truth  must  be  spoken,  still  seems  obscure, 
and  the  only  points  definitely  settled  appear  to  be  the  purity  of 
the  Servo-Croatian  forms,  and  the  great  corruption  of  Bulgarian. 
But  as  to  the  more  or  less  intimate  degrees  of  kinship  existing 
between  the  various  groups,  as  to  the  more  or  less  intermediate 
common  forms  that  may  have  at  some  time  existed,  as,  for  instance, 


*  Schleicher,  "  1st  das  Altkirchenslawische  Altslowenich  ?  " 
zur  Vergl.  Sprachforschung,"  i.  p.  319. 


Beitr'age 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  285 

a  common  Tsecho-Polono-Sorbian,  Ave  can  say  nothing,  or  at  least 
nothing  positive.  The  future  may  possibly  confirm  in  part,  if  not 
wholly,  conclusions  already  arrived  at.  Possibly  also  the  day  may 
come  when  all  these  Slavonic  tongues  will  come  to  be  looked  on  as 
merely  a  series  of  so  many  collateral  varieties  springing  directly 
from  some  common  source,  always,  most  probably,  excepting  modern 
Bulgarian,  as  deriving  from  Church  Slavonic.  Doubtless  this 
would  not  prevent  Ruthenian  from  resembling  Russian  more  than 
it  does  Slovenian  or  Sorbian,  or  Polish  from  being  more  akin  to 
Tsech  than  it  is  either  to  Bulgarian  or  Ruthenian.  But  in  the 
absence  of  historic  records  all  classifications  of  this  sort  should  be 
received  with  great  reserve.  And  this  is  no  less  applicable  to  the 
great  linguistic  classifications,  than  to  more  special  distributions, 
such,  amongst  others,  as  those  of  the  Slavonic  tongues. 

§  9. — The  Lettlc  Group. 

On  the  south-east  coast  of  the  Baltic,  in  the  Russian  provinces 
of  Courland  and  Covno,  and  in  the  extreme  north-east  of  the 
German  province  of  eastern  Prussia,  there  still  survives  a  little 
group  of  Arj'an  tongues,  hemmed  in  on  the  west  by  German,  on  the 
south  by  Polish  and  Russian,  on  the  east  also  by  Russian,  on  the 
north  by  the  Dralo-Altaic  idiom,  Esthonian.  This  group,  which 
must  eventually  disappear  before  the  Russian  and  German,  is  called 
the  Letfic,  and  was  formerly  represented  by  three  branches:  Old 
/',  sian,  Lithuanian,  and  Lettish  ;  bu1  .-it  present  by  the  last  two 
only,  Prussian  having  « 1  i *  -*  1  out  two  hundred  years  ago. 

<  >f  all  the  Aryan  tongues,  the  members  of  this  group  are  those 
which  in  Europe  adhere  most  faithfully  to  the  primitive  Aryan 
type.  Our  attention  must  be  devoted  more  particularly  to  the 
Lithuanian,  which  i-  in  truth  the  most  important  member  of  tho 
group. 

(1)  Lithuanian, 

Spoken  in  Germany  by  from  150,000  to  200,000  persons,  in  a 
1 1-' -if i  iliirt j  to  thirl  in  length,  and  occupying  I  he 

me  north-eastern  frontier  of  I'm    ia,  but  even  here  in  the  rural 


2S6  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap,  vj 

districts  only,  having  disappeared  from  all  the  important  localities, 
such  as  Memel  and  Tilsit. 

The  Lithuanian  territory  in  Russia  is  much  more  compact,  and 
those  occupying  it  are  estimated  at  1,300,000,  approximately. 
Without  quite  reaching  Grodno  southwards,  and  "Wilna  eastwards, 
it  is  limited  on  the  north  by  the  Lettish,  of  which  we  shall  have 
presently  to  speak.  This  northern  Lithuanian  frontier  stretches 
in  nearly  a  straight  line  for  a  distance  of  upwards  of  ninety  leagues, 
the  most  important  place  within  the  Lithuanian-speaking  district 
being  the  little  town  of  Covno. 

Schleicher  had  divided  Lithuanian  into  two  dialects,  Low  Lithu- 
anian, or  Jemaltic,  and  High  Lithuanian,  which,  however,  did  not 
correspond  with  the  political  distribution  of  the  Lithuanians  into 
Russians  and  Germans ;  the  Low  Lithuanian  being  spoken  in  the 
north,  both  in  Prussia  and  in  Eussia,  while  High  Lithuanian 
occupies  both  countries  southwards.  According  to  Schleicher, 
the  difference  between  the  two  varieties  consisted  mainly  in  the 
fact  that  the  combinations  tl,  di,  retained  before  vowels  in  Jemaitic, 
were  changed  in  High  Lithuanian  to  cli  and  j ;  the  transition, 
however,  being  very  gradual  from  one  to  the  other.*  This  two- 
fold division  has  been  warmly  assailed ;  amongst  others  by  Kurschat, 
who,  while  admitting  that  in  Prussia,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Memel,  the  sounds  ch  and  j  do  not  occur,  believes  that  the  division 
cannot  be  supported  by  a  sufficient  number  of  undisputed  facts. 
The  language  of  the  vicinity  of  Memel  may  doubtless  present  some 
peculiarities,  but  not  enough  to  constitute  it  a  true  dialect,  f 

The  Lithuanian  vowel  system  is  very  simple,  and,  next  to 
Sanskrit  and  the  old  Iranian  tongues,  may  be  said  to  approach 
nearest  to  the  common  Aryan  primitive  type.  Instead  of  an  or- 
ganic a,  it  sometimes  has  a  long  o,  as  in  moters  =  Sanskrit  rad- 
taras  —  Greek  fx-qrepes  =  mothers.  But  a  more  serious  change  is 
that  of  long  to  short  vowels  at  the  end  of  words.  As  regards  the 
consonants  we  may  note,  amongst  other  deviations,  the  substitution 

*  "  Handbucb  der  Litauiscbeu  Spracbe,"  i.  p.  4.     Prague,  1856. 

t  "  Worterbucb  der  Litauiscben  Spraebe,"  first  part,  p.  viii.  Halle,  1870. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FOKM   OF  SPEECH— INFLECTION.  287 

of  the  simple  unaspirated  for  the  primitive  aspirated  explosives, 
the  Sanskrit  gh,  dk,  hh,  hecoming  g,  d,  b.  Lithuanian,  liko  the 
Slavonic  group  and  Zend,  possesses  the  French/,  -which  it  often 
substitutes  for  g,  or  for  the  organic  gh.  It  is  transcribed  by  a  ::, 
with  a  dot  over  it.  Lastly,  by  its  retention  of  the  sibilant  s, 
Lithuanian  shows  itself  superior  to  Sanskrit,  and  to  nearly  all  the 
other  Aryan  tongues,  -which  generally  replace  it  by  a  series  of  new 
fricatives. 

The  Lithuanian  declension  has  been  perfectly  preserved ;  it 
retains  the  dual  forms,  and  its  case-endings  are  nearly  always  a 
faithful  reflex  of  the  organic  terminations.  Lastly,  in  the  conju- 
gation it  retains  the  present  and  future  forms,  but  having  lost  the 
four  other  organic  tenses  denoting  past  time,  it  has  developed  a  new- 
perfect  and  an  imperfect.  The  first,  as  a  rule,  is  distinguished 
from  the  present  by  separate  endings,  while  the  second  is  a  com- 
pound  tense,  formed  by  the  root  and  the  past  tense  of  the  verb 

to  do. 

Lithuanian  accent  is  extremely  difficult,  nor  is  it  much  better 
understood  than  is  that  of  certain  Slavonic  tongues.  Its  orthography 
is  not  yet  reduced  to  conformity,  several  systems  prevailing,  some 
of  which  are  more  phonetic,  and  others  rather  etymological.  Each 
has  doubtless  its  special  advantages,  rendering  a  reconciliation  all 
the  more  dillicult. 

Lithuanian  possesses  an  important  literary  monument  in  the 
poem  of  "Th  "  by  Donalitius,   in   three  thousand  lines, 

published  by  Rhesa,  with  a  German  translation,  in  1818;  by 
Schleicher,  at  St.    Petersburg,  in    L865,  and  by   Nesselmann,  in 

1 3  19.    Donalitius  (1711   80)  besides  "The  Seasons,''  composed  s e 

other  poetic  pi  of  which  are  extant,  the  whole  < 

tuting  oearly  all  the  Lithuanian  literature  we  possess.  A  number 
of  national  Bongs,  known  as  " dainas,"  besides  some  proverbs  and 
t.,i,  m  prose,  have  also  been  collected,  supplying  altogether 
sufficient  materiah  forthestudy  of  this  valuable  language,  which, 

though  i1  numbered,  beverbe  remembered  a    one  of 

the  most  remarkable  instances  of  the  vitality  of  human    peei  h. 


288  THIRD   FORM   OP   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

(2)  Lettish. 

The  number  of  those  speaking  Lettish  is  estimated  at  about 
1,000,000,  more  or  less.  The  northern  Lithuanian  frontier  forms 
its  southern  limits ;  eastwards  it  confines  on  the  Eussian,  and  on 
the  north  with  the  Uralo- Altaic  Esthonian.  It  occupies  the  north 
of  Courland,  the  south  of  Livonia,  and  the  west  of  the  province 
of  Vitebsk,  and  its  chief  centres  are  Riga  and  Mitau. 

The  Lettish  grammar  is  essentially  the  same  as  the  Lithuanian, 
and  need  not  therefore  further  occupy  us.  It  may,  however,  be 
remarked  that  its  grammatical  forms  are,  as  a  ride,  not  so  well 
preserved  as  those  of  its  congener,  from  which  Lettish  is  certainly 
not  derived,  though  its  main  features  are  less  correct  and  more 
modern.  Like  many  other  languages  that  possess  no  other 
literature,  Lettish  boasts  of  a  certain  number  of  national  songs. 

(3)   Old  Prussian, 

"Which  disappeared  about  two  hundred  years  ago,  occupied  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic  from  the  mouth  of  the  Vistula  to  that  of  the 
Memen.  After  the  conquest  of  all  the  old  Prussian  territory  by  the 
Germans,  the  natives  were  compelled  gradually  to  give  way  before 
feudalism  and  Christianity,  which  overspread  the  country  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  having  had  recourse  to  the  most  violent  and 
unscrupulous  means  to  effect  their  purpose. 

In  1561  the  German  catechism  was  translated  into  Prussian, 
and  this  work  now  forms  one  of  the  most  important  monuments 
for  the  study  of  the  language,  of  which,  however,  it  is  not  the 
oldest  record.  ISTesselmann  published  some  few  years  since  a 
German-Prussian  lexicon,  containing  rather  more  than  eight  hundred 
words,  dating  from  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Less  incorrect  than  modern  Lettish  often  is,  old  Prussian  inclines 
more  to  the  Lithuanian.  Its  forms  are  perhaps  less  antique, 
though  at  times  by  far  surpassing  its  congener  in  this  respect. 
Thus  the  old  Prussian  nevints  =  ninth,  becomes  in  Lithuanian 
devinats,  the  organic  nasal  being  here  changed  to  d. 

The  Lettic  group  is  doubtless  nearly  connected  with  the  Slavonic, 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  289 

and  it  is  generally  supposed  that  at  some  remote  period  both  groups 
were  united  in  one  common  type,  -whence  they  subsequently 
diverged.  Our  view  of  this  theory  will  be  given  a  little  farther 
on ;  meantime  the  fact  of  their  great  resemblance  cannot  be  gain- 
said. It  is  so  striking  that  many  have  been  deceived  by  it  to  the 
extent  of  classifying  the  Lettic  tongues  with  the  Slavonic.  This, 
however,  involves  a  fundamental  error,  for  however  akin  they  may 
be  to  each  other,  the  two  groups  are  no  less  essentially  distinct 
than  are,  for  instance,  the  Sanskrit  and  the  Iranic. 

§  10. — Unclassified  Aryan  Tongues. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Aryan  tongues,  both  living  and  dead, 
have  been  by  one  writer  or  another  compared,  grouped,  and 
classified  with  one  or  another  language  of  the  same  family.  In 
fact,  the  tendency  has  always  been  towards  premature  classifications, 
though  too  great  haste  in  this  respect  is  generally  more  injurious 
than  profitable,  it  being  in  our  opinion  better  not  to  class  at  all 
than  to  do  so  on  too  slight  or  insufficient  grounds.  Bopp  himself 
was  no1  proof  against  the  temptation,  having  at  one  time  essayed 
to  include  the  Caucasian  and  the  Malayo-Polynesian  groups  with 
the  Aryan  family.  The  attempt  of  course  proved  a  failure,  but  it 
helped  to  show  how  hard  it  La  even  for  the  soundest  and  most 
critical  minds  to  avoid  at  times  yielding  to  the  love  of  such 
generalisations. 

When  treating  in  our  fourth  chapter  of  the  agglutinating  tongues, 
we  may  possibly  have  separated  certain  groups  which  may  yet  he 
shown  to  he  related.  Still  we  did  aot  hesitate  meantime  to  keep 
them  apart,  in  the  belief  that  a  certain  reserve  is  frequently  prm.i' 
of  a  sound  judgment,  while  ra  one  bul  too  often  merely  betrays 
,-i  lack  of  scientific  method. 

At  the  same  time  if  is  quite  possible  for  a  given  language  to  bo 
ii  to  belong  in  a  general  way  to  such  and  such  a  family, 
though  we  may  be  unable  perhaps  to  det<  rmine  its  particular  place 
in  thai  family  ;  thai  i  , to  poinl  out  the  special  group  with  which  if. 
ought  to  be  included,  or  yel  to  assert  confidently  that  it.  Eon 
Bpecial  divi  i  >n  of  ii    own  within  the  family. 

u 


290  THIRD   FORM    OP  SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

Such  is  the  case  with  several  Aryan  tongues,  living  and  dead, 
as,  for  instance,  Etruscan  and  Albanian,  and  we  shall  here  devote 
a  few  words  to  some  of  these  unclassified  tongues. 

(1)  Etruscan. 

Pew  languages  have  tested  the  sagacity  of  linguists  to  the  same 
extent  that  Etruscan  has,  and  few  have  at  the  same  time  more 
readily  lent  themselves  to  the  most  contradictory  and  unscientific 
theories.  So  early  as  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  already  derived 
from  Hebrew  or  Chaldee,  while  some  writers  even  now  assign  a 
Semitic  origin  to  it  in  a  general  way,  if  they  do  not  connect  it 
directly  with  Hebrew.  But  with  Lanzi  originated  the  now  generally 
received  opinion  that  Etruscan  is  an  Italic  language  in  the  same 
sense  that  Latin,  Oscan,  and  Umbrian  are.  His  famous  work 
appeared  in  1789,  but  it  unfortunately  necessarily  lacked  the 
scientific  process,  at  the  time  of  its  composition  Aryan  comparative 
grammar  not  having  been  yet  established.  Nor  had  Lanzi  the 
opportunity  of  consulting  the  numerous  inscriptions  since  dis- 
covered, and  which  now  supply  abundant  materials  for  the  study 
of  Etruscan. 

Corssen  has  essayed  to  resume,  in  a  very  important  work,  the 
results  so  far  arrived  at  by  those  writers  that  have  treated  this 
subject  on  sound  principles,  and  amongst  them  he  has  himself 
secured  a  distinguished  position.*  Etruscan  would  seem  to  be 
decidedly  an  Italic  language,  akin  to  Latin,  Oscan,  and  Umbrian. 
The  forms  of  all  the  cases,  besides  a  certain  number  of  verbal  and 
pronominal  formations,  seem  to  have  been  already  recognised. 
Nearly  all  the  Etruscan  inscriptions  are  sepulchral,  some  being 
bilingual  (Latin  and  Etruscan),  found  mostly  in  the  north  of 
Etruria,  and  these,  as  may  well  be  supposed,  have  been  of  the 
greatest  service  in  deciphering  the  language. 

The  Etruscan  alphabet  forms,  with  the  Umbrian  and  Oscan,  a 
branch  of  the  Italic  alphabet  already  spoken  of.  HoAvever,  it  is 
divided  into  several  distinct  classes,  which  are  successively  examined 

*  "  Uebcr  die  Spracke  der  Etruskcr,"  i.     Leipzig,  1874. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  291 

by  Corssen  in  the  -work  above  referred  to.  The  reader  may  also 
consult  the  writings  of  Conestabile,  which  have  proved  a  valuable 
contribution  to  the  progress  of  Etruscan  epigraphy.* 

As  regards  the  language  itself,  if  it  is  eventually  to  be  classed 
with  the  Italic  idioms,  side  by  side  with  Latin,  Oscan,  and  Um- 
brian,  we  for  our  part  do  not,  at  all  events,  believe  that  the  time 
has  yet  come  for  doing  so,  though  it  may  possibly  not  be  far 
distant.  Doubtless  it  would  be  hard  to  say  what  Etruscan  is,  if 
its  right  to  membership  with  the  Italic  group  be  denied.  But  that 
is  not  the  rpiestion,  for  it  might  still  be  looked  on  as  simply  an 
Aryan  tongue,  without  forthwith  identifying  it  with  the  Italic 
idioms.  But  in  truth,  whether  it  be  altogether  independent,  or 
belong  to  some  other  connection,  or  is  after  all  akin  to  the  Latin, 
are  points  that  still  remain  to  be  settled.  Meantime  there  is 
nothing  to  prevent  us  from  holding  this  last  hypothesis  as  at  least 
probable  enough,  though  not  yet  absolutely  proven. 

(2)  Darl 1 1 a. 
The  old  Dacian,  limited  southwards  by  the  Danube,  on  the  north- 
east by  the  Dniester,  and  on  the  north-west  by  the  Theiss,  com- 
prised the  regions  now  forming  the  Hungarian  circle  beyond  the 
-.  Transylvania,   Bucovina,  the    Banat  of  Temes,  Wallachia, 
Moldavia,  and  Bessarabia. 

Of  the  Dacian  language  there  have  survived  but  scanty  frag- 

ments — a  few  names  of  plants  quoted  by  the  physician  Dioscorides, 

and  a  number  of  geographical  terms,  all  of  which  have  undoubtedly 

an    Aryan   aspect.       Thus    propedula   recalls    the   Gaulish   form 

pempedida  =  cinquef oil    But  whether  Dacian  was  Keltic,  Teutonic, 

or  Slavonic,  or  belonged  other  Aryan  group,  or  constitutes 

of  itself  a  distinct  and  independent  branch  of  the   Aryan  family, 

which  in  the  present   state  of  our  knowledge  it  is 

impossible  to  answer. 

The  Rumanian  writer  Eajden,  who  Lb  al   pre  1   in  a 

■   national  historical  work,  fearlessly  interprets  all  the   Dacian 

iphical  ii  irring  in  Ptolemy,  Strabo,  and  the  table  of 

•  "  [Bcrizioni  i.  L868. 

i     2 


292  THIED  FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  [Chap.  v. 

Peutinger.  '  !Nay  more,  he  fancies  he  has  lighted  upon  the  old 
Dacian  alphabet,  in  an  alphabet  surviving  till  the  last  century 
amongst  the  Szeklers  of  Transylvania.  But  he  has  altogether 
overlooked  the  preliminary  question,  to  what  group  of  languages 
Dacian  may  belong. 

(3)  The  Aryan  Languages  of  Asia  Minor. 

That  a  large  number  of  these  idioms  were  Aryan  seems  now 
placed  beyond  doubt,*  and  this  is  unquestionably  the  case  with 
Phrygian  and  Lycian.  We  possess  a  tolerably  large  number  of 
Lycian  inscriptions,  some  of  which  bilingual,  in  Greek  and  Lycian, 
a  circumstance  which  wdl  doubtless  greatly  facilitate  the  attempts 
made  at  deciphering  this  language.  Its  alphabet  also  may  be  said 
to  be  already  all  tbut  definitely  settled.  Of  Phrygian  also  we  have 
some  inscriptions  found  in  Phrygia  itself,  besides  a  series  of  words 
occurring  in  the  classic  writers.  The  number  of  these  words  is 
considerable,  and  as  their  meaning  is  clearly  determined  in  the 
passages  where  they  occur,  they  may  serve  as  a  groundwork  for  the 
study  of  Phrygian.  Nor  need  their  transcription  be  assumed  to  be 
radically  faulty,  though  doubtless  more  or  less  inexact.  In  com- 
paring the  other  Aryan  tongues  with  Greek,  or  with  Iranic,  or 
especially  Avith  Armenian,  the  transcription  of  their  different  words 
in  Greek  must  be  relatively  correct  enough.  The  old  Iranian 
idioms  Avere  in  fact  not  greatly  removed  from  the  Greek  dialects, 
and  the  Aryan  tongues  of  Asia  Minor  may  fairly  be  supposed  to 
bring  these  two  groups  still  closer  together. 

They  would  thus  seem  to  belong  neither  to  the  Iranian  group,  as 
many  have  thought,  nor  yet  to  the  Hellenic  branch,  but  would 
rather  seem  to  form  a  special  division  of  their  own,  equally  allied 
to  Greek,  Armenian,  and  old  Persian. 

This,  however,  is  a  mere  hypothesis,  which  time  may  or  may  not 
confirm.  And  it  may  also  be  discovered  that,  if  certain  idioms  of 
Asia  Minor  are  closely  related,  as  for  instance  the  Carian  and  the 
Lycian,  there  are  others  again  but  very  remotely  connected  together. 

*  Eenan,  "  Histoire  des  Langues  Semitiques,"  i.  ch.  2,  §  2. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM    OP   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  293 

It  may  even  be  necessary  to  group  them  in  two  classes,  one  leaning 
towards  the  Iranic,  the  other  towards  the  Hellenic  family.  But 
the  question  has  not  yet  advanced  beyond  the  first  stage  of  inquiry, 
and  these  various  idioms  must  meantime  be  included  amongst  the 
number  of  those  that  still  await  definite  classification. 

(4)  Tlie  so-called  "  Scythlc "  Aryan  Tongues. 

In  the  nineteenth  paragraph  of  our  fourth  chapter  we  said  that 
the  expressions  "  Scythian,"  "  Scythic,"  were  merely  geographical 
terms,  being  applicable  to  a  large  number  of  tribes,  differing  in  race 
and  language.  \Ye  further  stated  that  certain  peoples  spoken  of 
by  the  aneients  as  "Scythic,''  spoke  an  Aryan  language.*  The 
reader  is  referred  to  this  passage,  as  the  matter  cannot  detain  us 
further  here. 

(5)  Albanian. 

The  questions  of  the  origin  of  Albanian  and  of  its  position  in  the 
Aryan  family  have  sorely  tried  many  philologists,  nor  is  the  problem 
yet  solved. 

Albanian  occupies  the  portion  of  the  Turkish  Empire  watered  by 
the  Adriatic,  the  Strait  of  Otranto,  and  the  Ionian  Sea.  It  con- 
fines northwards  with  the  Slaves  of  Montenegro  and  of  the 
Servian  principality,  eastwards  with  the  Bulgarians  to  the  north,  and 
with  the  Greeks  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  to  the  south,  southwards 
also  with  the  Greeks.  The  greatest  length  of  this  territory  is  about 
ninety-five  by  an  average  width  of  thirty  leagues.  To  the  north 
of  Scutari  it  includes  some  rather  important  Servian  communities, 
and  in  the  centre,  especially  southwards,  and  to  the  east  of  Janina, 
some  no  less  considerable  Armenian  communities.  The  Albanians 
axe  ■  it  about  1,500,000,80  that, while  much  less  numerous 

than  the  Slavs  of  Turkey,  they  on  the  other  hand  outnumber  the 
Turks  themselves,  as  well  as  the  Greek  subjects  of  the  empire. 
Their  real  name  is  SMpetar,  or  Highlander. 

*  Guard  de  Rialle,  "  Bulletins  <!e  la  Sue.  d' Anthropologic  de  I'urie," 
1869,  p.  46. 


294  THIRD   FOEM   OP   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

Some  writers  have  endeavoured  to  connect  Albanian  with  the 
Slavonic  idioms,  but  all  such  attempts  have  proved  abortive,  as  they 
are  always  likely  to  do.  A  more  generally  received  opinion  con- 
siders it  as  rather  closely  allied  to  Greek,  but  this  view  cannot  be 
said  to  have  been  scientifically  confirmed.  Others  again  have  sought 
to  establish  a  more  or  less  intimate  relationship  between  Albanian 
and  the  Italic  group,  nor  woidd  Ave  venture  to  say  that  they  are 
nearer  the  truth  than  the  champions  of  the  Hellenic  theory.  The 
matter  remains  in  fact  still  a  moot  question.  The  Albanian 
adjective  we  know  possesses  a  sort  of  ending  of  pronominal  origin, 
like  that  of  the  Slavonic  tongues,  also  that  the  article  is  suffixed  to 
the  noun,  as  in  Eumanian  and  Bulgarian  ;  but  all  else,  and  especially 
the  conjugation,  is  very  obscure.  We  therefore  hold  that,  till 
further  proof,  Albanian  must  simply  be  looked  on  as  an  Aryan 
tongue;  so  much  is  certain,  but  we  are  scarcely  entitled  to  go 
further,  and  connect  it  forthwith  with  any  particular  Aryan  group. 

i 

§  11. — On  the  Ramification  of  the   Common  Aryan  Speech,  and 
on  its  Primitive  Home. 

(a) 

Scarcely  had  the  affinities  of  the  various  Aryan  tongues  been 
ascertained,  scarcely  had  their  descent  been  acknowledged  from 
some  primitive  idiom,  of  which  history  has  lost  all  record,  when 
the  work  of  their  classification  was  undertaken.  The  question  was 
how  to  group  them  according  to  then  respective  degrees  of  kindred, 
to  reduce  them  to  families,  and  thus  connect  in  their  turn  these 
families  with  each  other,  according  to  their  various  mutual  relations. 
In  a  word,  the  question  was  how  to  divide  the  common  Aryan  stock 
into  branches,  the  branches  into  offshoots,  and  so  on. 

The  first  connection  thus  established  was -between  Greek  and 
Latin,  an  inevitable  consequence  of  the  traditions  of  classical 
linguistics.  It  was  accordingly  assumed  that  one  and  the  same 
idiom,  breaking  away  from  the  main  Aryan  stem,  had  given  birth 
to  two  sister  tongues — Greek  and  Latin.  This  Graeco-Latin  rami- 
fication seeming  to  need  a  name  of  some  sort,  was  called  Pelasgic, 
than  which  no  title  was  ever  less  justified.     Far  from  knowing  who- 


Chap,  v.]         THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  295 

these  Pelasgians  were,  the  very  existence  of  any  such  people  at  any 
time  could  scarcely  be  verified,  the  few  passages  in  Herodotus 
referring  to  them,  being  of  a  nature  calculated  to  prevent  any  serious 
writer  from  attributing  to  them  any  definite  meaning. 

The  labours  of  Burnouf  and  of  Lassen  in  the  Zend  and  old 
Persian  domain,  enabled  the  Iranic  idioms  to  be  brought  into  the 
closest  relationship  with  Sanskrit.  A  common  Indo-Iranian  speech 
was  therefore  assumed  as  the  source  of  the  Sanskrit  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  the  Iranian  tongues  on  the  other.  In  the  same  way 
the  striking  resemblance  of  Lithuanian  to  the  Slavonic  group  sug- 
gested a  common  Letto-Slavonic  speech,  which  in  its  turn  had  a 
common  origin  with  the  prehistoric  Teutonic  tongue,  aud  so  on. 
Several  systems,  all  defined  with  equal  distinctness,  thus  came  to 
challenge  acceptance.  Some  writers,  for  instance,  have  adopted  the 
subjoined  scheme : 

x    ,    T       .    [  Sanskrit 
C  Indo-Iranic  \  _ 
\  (  Iranian 

Arya»j  (  Grseco-Italic    \  TGr,ck 

(  \  (  Italic 

^  European     ■<  Keltic 

v.  Slavo-Lctto-Teutonic     )  ,  r,efcfcio 

(  Slavo-Lettic     ] 

'  Slavonic 

Schleicher,  taking  a  different  view  of  the  Aryan  dispersion, 
tabulated  his  conclusions  as  under: 

(  Teutonic 
(    Letto-Slavo.  ]  Lt,ttic 

Teutonic       (  Letto-Slavo      |  glftvonio 

.        '  ,.  Tf  ,       (  Italo-Keltic      |* 

Mother- 1  ongue  (  Grsooo-Italo-  Italic 

Aryo-GneooJ         K"luo 

V     Italo-Keltie   f    ,  (   Iranian 

Ar-van  I  Bindn 

I,,  thj  |  ible,  therefore,  we  have  no  longer  any  special  European 
speech,  some  European  idioms  being  more  akin  to  Sanskrit  and 
Iranic:  than  to  the  other  Europe  This  theory,  in  spite 

of  t!i  author's  oam< .  o  to  have 


296  THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

found  much  favour,  the  broad  division  into  Indo-Iranic  and  Euro- 
pean being  more  generally  preferred.*  Certain  writers,  however, 
while  admitting  this  twofold  partition,  took  different  views  of  the 
subdivisions,  some  for  instance  connecting  the  Keltic  more  with 
the  Teutonic  group,  and  others  more  with  the  Italic. 

E"or  is  the  theory  itself  of  the  migrations  of  the  common  Aryan 
stock  universally  accepted.  It  has  been  simultaneously  assailed  in 
France  and  in  Germany,  in  two  entirely  independent  essays, 
published  separately,  but  at  the  same  date.  One  of  these  is  by  the 
present  writer, t  the  other  by  J.  Schmidt.  J  Schmidt  still  admits  a 
linguistic  Indo-Iranian  unity,  and  a  Letto-Slave  unity,  but  he 
declines  to  go  farther.  He  endeavours  to  show  that  while  on  the  west 
the  Slavonic  and  Lettic  tongues  are  indissolubly  related  to  the 
Teutonic,  they  are  no  less  intimately  related  to  the  Iranian  and 
Indie  languages  in  the  east.  Hence,  he  argues,  not  only  was  there 
never  a  common  prehistoric  Letto-Slavo-Teutonic  speech,  but 
neither  was  there  a  special  European  tongue,  clearly  distinct  from 
Sanskrit  and  Iranic.  Greek,  on  the  other  hand,  would  be  quite  as 
inseparable  from  the  two  Asiatic  groups  as  from  the  Italic,  while 
the  Keltic  branch  could  be  grouped  on  no  more  just  grounds  with 
the  Italic  than  with  the  Teutonic.  But  this  is  one  of  those 
intricate  questions  which  are  not  to  be  settled  with  a  few  moments, 
study. 

As  regards  ourselves,  we  hold  that  no  intermediate  groups  have 
existed  between  the  Aryan  mother-tongue,  and  the  Iranian, 
Hellenic,  Teutonic,  and  other  great  arteries.  Doubtless  some 
Aryan  idioms  are  more  allied,  all  things  considered,  to  some  than 
to  others  of  their  congeners ;  Latin,  for  instance,  more  to  the  Keltic 
than  to  the.  Iranic.     But  from  this  Ave  cannot  deduce  the  existence  of 

*  Havet,  "  I/Unite"  Linguistique  Europeenne,"  "  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  de 
Linguistique,"  ii.  p.  261. 

f  "  Notice  sur  les  Subdivisions  de  la  Langue  Commune  Indo-Europeenne," 
"Comptes-rendus  de  la  Premiere  Session  de  l'Association  Franoaise  pour 
l'Avancement  des  Sciences,"  p.  736.     Bordeaux,  1872. 

X  "  Die  Verwandtschaftsverhaltnisse  der  Indo-Germanischen  Sprachen." 
Weimar,  1872. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  297 

a  common  Italo-Keltic  speech.  "We  shall  probably  never  know  the 
motives  that  determined  the  migrations  of  the  Aryan-speaking 
races ;  but  it  may  safely  he  assumed  that  before  splitting  asunder, 
they  occupied  a  somewhat  Avide  domain,  within  the  limits  of  which 
their  common  speech  must  necessarily  have  undergone  diverse 
changes  and  corruptions  amongst  the  diverse  tribes  dwelling  in  this 
territory.  Such  modifications  could  not  possibly  have  been  the 
same  everywhere ;  in  one  place,  for  instance,  they  would  affect  the 
fricatives,  in  another  the  explosives,  elsewhere  the  forms  of  the 
words  themselves,  and  so  on.  It  may  be  further  presumed  that 
in  all  probability  the  changes  current  in  one  tribe  would,  on  the 
whole,  resemble  those  taking  place  in  the  neighbouring  districts, 
while  the  more  remote  the  groups,  the  more  such  tendencies  to 
corruption  woidd  be  differentiated.  In  other  words,  there  must 
have  been  a  wider  severance  between  the  extreme  eastern  and 
western  groups,  than  between  the  latter  and  any  given  central 
group.  This  kind  of  gradation  and  continuity  is  quite  natural  in 
itself,  and  is  no  more  than  what  is  still  met  with  in  modern  patois. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  investigate  the  causes  that  determine  the 
general  tendencies  peculiar  to  the  various  tribes  ;  they  will  probably 
never  be  discovered,  bui  we  may  still  confidently  believe  that  the 
intermediate  branches  jusl  spoken  of,  the  pretended  [talo-Keltic,  or 
Graeco-Italic  languages  never  did  exist,  and  never  would  have  been 
invented  but  for  an  excessive  love  of  classification  Still  such 
assumed  prehistoric  forms  of  speech  have  gone  on  multiplying,  nor 
would  it  be  difficult  in  the  same  way  to  "restore"  a  common 
Helleno-Slave,  Lrano-Kelt,  or  [talo-Teuton  mother-tongue.  Once 
launched  on  the  wide  water,  of  imagination,  there  can  be  no  reason 
for  stopping  short  at  any  particular  point. 

w 

i:  fore   Leaving   the  Aryan    family,  we  may  be  allowed  a  few 

remark-  on  the  much  debated  question  of  the  primitive  home  of  the 

Aryan  Bpeech.     And   Let  us  in  the  fir  I   place  di  tinguish  at  once 

,,.n  the  question  of  race  and  of    peech.     Ln  dealing  with  the 

very  formation  of  articulate    peech  itself,  the  elem<  ni  of  race  La  not 


298  THIED   FORM   OP    SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

only  all  important,  but  absolutely  paramount.  The  acquisition  of 
the  faculty  of  speech,  the  formation  of  the  first  linguistic  systems, 
and  of  the  first  races  of  mankind  are  all  coincident  and  simultaneous, 
as  explained  in  our  second  chapter,  to  which  no  further  allusion 
need  here  be  made.  We  will  merely  insist  upon  the  obvious 
fact  that,  if  the  European  races  come  from  Europe,  or  have  been 
developed  in  Europe,  such  at  least  as  they  now  exist,  it  does  not  at 
all  follow  that  the  Aryan  languages  of  these  regions  have  also  taken 
their  rise  here.  This  distinction,  though  often  overlooked,  is 
essential.  We  may  even  say  more,  and  assert  that  if  it  is  reasonable 
to  speak  of  Aryan  tongues,  it  is  absolutely  illogical  to  speak  of 
an  Aryan  "  race."  Such  a  race  has  no  existence,  and  those  alone 
may  describe  and  trace  its  frontiers,  and  grow  eloquent  on  the 
theme,  who  have  never  entered  an  anthropological  museum.  Let 
us  go  a  step  farther.  If  it  is  certain  that  a  common  Aryan  mother- 
tongue  was  ever  at  any  time  spoken  in  any  region  whatsoever,  it  is 
not  at  all  certain  that  those  who  spoke  it  belonged  to  one  and  the 
same  race.  The  common  Aryan  speech  was  doubtless  formed  in 
a  single  centre  by  individuals  perfectly  resembling  each  other.  But 
its  formative  period  once  passed,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  it 
from  spreading  over  other  tribes  very  different  from  each  other,  as 
we  have  seen  the  "  Eomana  Rustica  "  spread  over  the  neighbouring 
tribes  of  the  Guadalaviar,  the  Somrne,  and  the  Lower  Danube. 
Many  theories  have  been  advanced  on  this  subject,  but  after  all 
there  is  but  one  well-attested  fact  that  can  be  relied  upon — that  is, 
the  existence  of  this  common  Aryan  tongue,  apart  altogether  from 
the  question  of  race. 

So  much  established,  we  may  approach  the  question  at  issue 
without  fear  of  further  misunderstandings. 

Some  twenty  years  ago  the  home  of  the  common  Aryan  tongue 
was  generally  supposed  to  be  "  the  vast  plateau  of  Iran,"  as  Pictet 
writes,  "  that  immense  quadrilateral  stretching  from  the  Indus  to 
the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  from  the  Oxus  and  Jaxartes  to  the 
Persian  Gulf."*  This  region  answers  to  the  present  Persia  and  to 

*  "Les  Origines  Inclo-Europeennes,  ou  les  Aryas  Pritnitifs."  "Essai  de 
Paleontologie  Lingnistique,"  i.  p.  35.     Paris,  1859. 


Chap,  v.]         THIRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  299 

the  countries  "bordering  on  it  east  and  west  [Afghanistan  and 
Beluchistan  on  the  east,  portions  of  Mesopotamia,  Kurdistan,  and 
Armenia  on  the  west].  But  such  an  extensive  area  was  felt  to  he 
much  too  vague,  and  attempts  were  made  to  restrict  it.  Relying  on 
the  traditions  of  the  "Avesta,"  it  was  suggested  that  Bactriana  ought 
to  he  looked  on  as  the  home  of  the  pretended  Aryas,  that  is  of  the 
people  speaking  the  common  Aryan  tongue.  But  this  was  in  fact 
giving  to  the  Iranian  tradition  a  much  wider  meaning  than  it  really 
had.  The  "Avesta"  may,  strictly  speaking,  have  still  had  reminis- 
cences of  an  older  Iranian  land ;  hut  to  assume  that  such  a  home 
was  at  the  same  time  the  cradle  of  the  whole  Aryan  family  was  a 
conclusion  not  at  all  warranted  "by  the  premises.  This  was  readily 
seen,  and  it  hecame  also  evident  that  philology  must  he  the  safest 
guide  in  our  attempts  to  solve  the  difficulty. 

Extremely  vague,  however,  is  the  information  to  he  gleaned  from 
the  comparative  vocabulary  of  the  Aryan  tongues  concerning 
geographical  and  topographical  terms,  the  names  of  rivers,  moun- 
tain-ranges, metals,  plants,  and  animals.  They  are  all  equally 
applicable  to  a  multitude  of  localities — to  Bactriana,  for  instance, 
as  well  as  to  Assyria,  to  Assyria  no  less  than  to  Bactriana. 

The  most  weighty  and  seemingly  the  only  convincing  argument 
is  drawn  from  the  general  aspect  of  the  various  Aryan  tongues.  It 
may  he  readily  admitted  that  those  on  the  whole  most  faithfully 
■ring  to  the  common  Aryan  type  are  also  those  that  have 
least  wandered  from  tic  regions  where  this  common  type  was 
spoken.  We  have  already  seen  that  not,  any  one  of  the  Aryan 
rior  on  all  points  to  its  congeners,  there  being  none 
of  them  but  presenl  i  some  weak  side  or  other.  Tims  Sanskrit, 
changi  •  /'■'-   to  ch   is  herein  surpassed  by  Latin, 

which  retains  them  alL  But  this  does  no1  prevent  certain  idioms 
from  being,  all  things  considered,  much  more  primitive  than  others. 
In  tli'-  very  first  rank  we  must,  unhesitatingly  place  Sanskrit  and 
tic-  "Id  [ranic  tongues,  '/.>w<\  and    ancieni   Persian.     Nor  is  il 

n  that  tic-  Keltic  idiom:  urn  I  occupy  tlm  Lowesl  position  in 
the  icale.     Bence  our  first  conclusion:   Of  all  the  Aryan  ton] 
bit  and  [ranic  have  migrated  hit   from  the  common  Aryan 


300  TniRD   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.         [Chap.  v. 

centre,  while  the  Keltic  group  has  wandered  farther  from  it  than 
have  any  of  the  cognate  idioms. 

In  the  next  hest  state  of  preservation  may  he  included  the 
Hellenic  dialects  in  the  south-east  and  the  Lettic  and  Slavonic  in 
the  north-east  of  Europe.  A  third  stage  would  comprise  the 
Teutonic  group  in  the  north  and  the  Italic  in  the  south,  each  of 
these  branches  confining  on  the  Keltic,  which,  as  stated,  stands  in 
the  fourth  or  lowest  rank. 

Pictet,  whom  this  unquestioned  fact  did  not  escape,  drew  a 
conclusion  from  it.  Describing  a  somewhat  oblong  ellipse,  he 
makes  the  focus  to  the  right  represent  the  point  Avhere  the  common 
Aryan  tongue  was  spoken.  A  little  to  the  right  of  this  focus  he 
places  Sanskrit  below  and  Iranic  above  [that  is,  at  the  extremities 
of  two  lines  radiating  from  the  focus  either  way  to  the  right]. 
Then  diverging  somewhat  to  the  left,  he  places  the  Slavo-Lettic 
and  the  Hellenic  in  central  positions,  above  and  below  respectively, 
these  two  branches  thus  still  remaining  near  the  right  focus,  though 
less  so  than  Sanskrit  and  Iranic.  Coming  stdl  farther  to  the  left, 
he  places  the  Teutonic  and  the  Italic  in  the  same  way  above  and 
below  respectively,  in  the  same  relative  position  to  the  left  focus 
that  Sanskrit  and  Iranic  occupy  towards  the  right  focus.  Con- 
tinuing still  to  the  left,  he  places  the  Keltic  branch  at  the 
extremity  of  the  horizontal  transverse  line  of  the  ellipse,  between 
the  Teutonic  and  the  Italic  groups,  Keltic  thus  occupying  the 
farthest  point  from  the  right  focus — that  is  to  say,  from  the 
assumed  centre  of  departure. 

This  diagram  may  easily  be  constructed  [as  thus  : 


Teutoni  c 


Iranic 


Kelti  c 


r^T^ — -^—- 1- Sanskrit  1. 

Italic         Hellenic  J 

The  scheme  is  doubtless  very  ingenious,  and  at  first  sight  one 
feels  strongly  tempted  to  adopt  it,  agreeing,  as  it  also  does,  with 
the  supposition  of  Eactriana  being  the  region  where  the  common 


Chap,  v.]         THIED   FORM   OF   SPEECH— INFLECTION.  301 

Aryan  tongue  was  spoken.  But  it  is  in  reality  liable  to  two 
different  interpretations,  and  to  two  distinct  applications,  the  first 
being  that  of  Pictet  himself.  Here  is  the  second  :  The  common 
centre  may  possibly  not  have  been  in  the  right  focus  of  the  ellipse, 
but  more  to  the  right,  and  even  outside  the  ellipse  itself,  that  is 
towards  the  Chinese  frontier.  In  this  case  Sanskrit  and  Iranic 
would  still  occupy  the  first  position,  Greek  and  Slavo-Lettic  the 
second,  Teutonic  and  Italic  the  third,  and  Keltic  the  fourth  and 
last. 

For  our  own  part,  we  do  not  pretend  to  pronounce  on  the  merits 
of  either  of  these  hypotheses ;  we  merely  set  them  forth  without 
judging,  while  still  expressing  our  decided  opinion  as  to  the  Asiatic 
origin  of  the  Aryan  linguistic  fannly. 

Latham  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  suggest  a  European  origin, 
which  has  been  adopted  by  a  few  writers,  some  of  whom  have 
endeavoured  to  give  a  scientific  aspect  to  their  view,  while  others 
have  simply  settled  the  matter  offhand  with  as  much  boldness  as 
incompetence.  Thus  certain  writers,  observing  that  the  Keltic  words 
were  shorter  than  the  Sanskrit,  have  argued  that  they  were  also 
simpler,  more  primitive,  and  less  removed  from  the  common  type, 
thereby  applying  the  rule  of  "long  measure"  to  the  science  of 
language.  By  this  process  Anglo-Saxon  would  derive  from  English, 
Latin  from  French,  Zend  from  Persian. 

Others  again,  arguing  from  the  fact  that  the  fair  blue-eyed  type 
is  found  more  especially  in  German-speaking  countries,  conclude, 
one  scarcely  sees  why,  thai  the  common  Aryan  mother-tongue  was 
spoken  in  Germany,  herein  confounding  race  and  language,  or 
rather  language  and  races.  It  matters  little  whether  the  Aryan- 
tribes  were  fail  01  dark,  or  whether  both  types  wen-. 
represented  amongsi  them.  The  question  we  are  concerned  with  is 
one  ii'. t  of  race  but  of  language.  Nor  shall  we  even  appeal  to  the 
aid  of  archaeology,  which  yet  clearly  teaches  that  at  an  epoch  when 
the  easl  had  reached  a  certain  degree  of  civilisation,  the  west  was 
still    in   a  sava  or    not    far    ivuiow<|    fnnii    it.      The   proofs 

furnished  by   philology   musl  suffice,  and   the  fact  of  this 
of   languages  departing   more  and  more  from  the   common   type, 


302  ORIGINAL   PLURALITY   OF    SPEECH.  [Chap.vi. 

according  as  they  are  situated  more  to  the  west,  speaks  convinc- 
ingly enough  of  itself  alone.  JSov  can  it  matter  much  whether  the 
home  of  the  common  Aryan  speech  be  placed  in  Armenia,  or  in 
Bactriana,  or  in  any  other  still  more  eastern  region.  This  is  now  a 
question  of  but  secondary  interest. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

ORIGINAL    PLURALITY    OF    SPEECH,    AND    TRANSMUTATION   OP 
LINGUISTIC    SYSTEMS. 

Having  thus  come  to  the  end  of  this  long  survey,  though  still 
necessarily  curtailed  at  almost  every  page,  it  remains  for  us  to  cast  a 
comprehensive  glance  at  the  field  travelled  over,  and  in  a  final 
chapter  sum  up  its  more  prominent  landmarks.  And  we  must,  at 
the  very  outset,  touch  once  more  on  the  question  of  the  scientific 
process,  which  was  the  first  to  challenge  inquiry,  and  must  be  the 
last  to  engage  our  attention.  By  it  is  swayed  all  present  science,  or 
rather  they  blend  together  as  but  one  body,  the  inalienable  union  of 
science  and  method,  which  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon, 
forming,  as  it  does,  the  essential  characteristic  of  this  new  phase 
of  human  thought. 

§  1. — How  to  Recognise  Linguistic  Affinities. 

Many  writers  but  indifferently  acquainted  Avith  the  science  of 
language,  will  often  unhesitatingly  group  together  linguistic  families, 
that  really  competent  authorities  do  not  venture  to  bring  into  the 
same  category,  or  will  at  times  even  declare  to  be  radically  distinct. 
It  is  here  above  all  that  we  see  the  danger  of  etymology,  which  in 
truth  rides  recklessly  over  all  obstacles.  Its  baneful  tendencies 
have  been  especially  fostered  by  biblical  prejudices,  it  being  a  fore- 
gone conclusion  for  theological  writers,  that  all  the  languages  of  the 
universe  are  connected,  either  directly  or  collaterally,  with  the 
Semitic   family.     The  hope  of  making  Hebrew  the  origin  of  all 


Chap,  ti.]  ORIGINAL   PLURALITY   OF   SPEECH.  303 

speech  they  'were  fain  at  last  to  give  up,  hut  they  still  felt  the 
necessity  of  identifying  all  languages,  Hehrew  itself  included,  with 
some  one  common  source  or  mother-tongue. 

This  theory  has  now  heen  placed  "beyond  the  pale  of  discussion, 
and  still  to  speak,  even  with  hated  breath,  of  a  so-called  common 
primeval  speech,  is  simply  to  betray  utter  ignorance  of  the  science 
of  language.  , 

In  comparing  idioms,  we  must,  above  all,  take  no  heed  of  the 
mere  likeness  of  words  to  each  other.  Two  words  of  nearly  or 
even  absolutely  simdar  meaning  in  two  different  languages,  may 
possibly  have  nothing  in  common,  so  that  lexical  apart  from 
grammatical  agreement  is  nothing  to  the  purpose.  The  etymologist 
pounces  upon  such  resemblances,  rests  satisfied  with  them,  and 
refuses  to  look  farther  afield,  while  the  philologist  passes  them 
unheeded.  In  his  eyes  the  analysis  alone  of  two  more  or  less 
similar  terms  can  prove  their  affinity,  but  he  never  ventures  to 
compare  together  two  words  ready  made.  Should  their  formative 
elements  and  their  roots  themselves  be  the  same,  they  may  rightly 
be  looked  upon  as  answering  to  each  other,  and  as  derived  from  a 
common  source.  But  should  these  conditions  not  be  verified,  the 
two  terms  in  question  cannot  be  identified,  however  homophonous 
they  may  happen  to  be. 

The  comparison  of  hundreds  of  ready-made  words  in  two 
tages  whatsoever,  would  never  advance  by  a  single  step  the 
in  of  their  mutual  relationship.  What  requires  to  be  proved, 
is  not  the  existence  of  these  casual  resemblances,  but  the  identity 
of  the  roots  when  reduced  to  their  simplest  form,  the  identity  of 
the  formative  elements,  theidentity  of  the  grammatical  functionsof 
these  elements  j  in  a  word,  the  grammatic  identity  of  the  languages 
compared. 

The  so-called  comparative  studies  not  based  on  these  inexorable 
principl   F  can  be  no  1-  ken  into  account;  all  such  trilling 

;s  to  a  bygon  ■  day. 


304  ORIGINAL    PLURALITY    OF    SPEECH.  [Chap.  ti. 

§  2. — Original  Plurality  of  Linguistic   Groups   and  Consequences 

thereof. 

Not  only  is  there  no  common  grammatical  point  of  identity 
between  the  Semitic  and  Aryan  linguistic  groups,  hut,  as  already 
explained,  inflection  itself  is  differently  treated  in  each  of  these 
systems.  Their  roots  are  totally  distinct,  their  formative  elements 
essentially  different  ;*  nor  have  the .  functions  of  these  elements 
anything  in  common.  The  abyss  separating  the  two  systems  is 
not  merely  deep,  it  is  impassable. 

"  "When,"  asks  Chavee,  "  can  two  languages  be  scientifically  held 
as  two  radically  distinct  creations  1  In  the  first  place,  when  their 
roots,  reduced  to  their  simplest  forms,  have  absolutely  nothing  in 
common,  either  in  their  phonetic  elements  or  in  their  syllabic  con- 
stituents. Secondly,  when  the  laws  regulating  the  first  combinations 
of  these  simple  roots  differ  essentially  in  the  two  systems."* 

This  is  the  case  with  the  Semitic  and  Aryan  tongues  no  less 
than  with  a  large  number  of  other  linguistic  systems ;  and  the 
consequences  of  this  fact  are  all  important.  If  the  faculty  of 
articulate  speech  constitutes  the  sole  fundamental  characteristic  of 
man,  as  explained  in  our  second  chapter,  and  if  the  different 
linguistic  groups  known  to  us  are  irreducible,  they  must  have  taken 
birth  independently  and  in  quite  distinct  regions.  It  follows  that 
the  precursors  of  man  must  have  acquired  the  faculty  of  speech  in 
different  localities  independently,  and  have  thus  given  birth  to 
several  races  of  mankind  originally  distinct,  t 

*  "  Les  Langues  et  les  Races,"  p.  13.     Paris,  1862. 

f  This  seems  to  be  a  very  sweeping  conclusion  to  come  to  on  very  slight 
and  not  yet  fully- established  premises.  In  fact,  the  learned  author  would 
appear  to  be  here  trespassing  beyond  the  legitimate  field  of  the  strict 
science  of  language  in  its  present  state,  and  verging  on  the  domain  of 
pure  metaphysics,  which  he  himself  elsewhere  so  eloquently  denounces. 
Nor  is  the  statement  at  all  so  generally  established  as  he  would  have  us 
suppose,  that  families  now  distinct — such,  for  instance,  as  the  Aryan  and 
the  Semitic — are  utterly  incapable  of  being  identified.  The  question  cannot 
here  be  enlarged  upon,  and  it  may  be  perhaps  enough  to  refer  to  Andreas 
Raabe's  "  Gemeinschaftliche  Grammatik  der  Arischen  und  der  Semitischen 
Sprachen,"    Leipzig,    1874,  which    work   may  possibly  have  escaped  the 


Chap,  ti.] 


ORIGINAL   PLURALITY  OF  SPEECH. 


305 


"The  French  anthropologists,"  says  General  Faidherhe,  "were 
usually  of  accord  that  articulate  speech  alone  distinguishing  man 
fundamentally  from  the  hrute  creation,  the  precursors  of  man  were 
not  entitled  to  this  name  hefore  they  had  acquired  the  faculty  in 
question.  But  we  readily  see  that  this  is  merely  a  question  of  the 
conventional  use  of  words.  The  only  important  point  is  to  know 
whether  he,  this  being,  called  man  or  not,  acquired  the  gift  of 
speech  in  one  place  only  and  at  one  particular  time,  or  in  more 
ways  than  one,  both  as  regards  time  and  place.  Xow  the  impos- 
sibility  of  reducing  human  speech  to  one  source  proves  the  truth 
of  the  second  hypothesis.  Had  man  acquired  this  faculty,  the 
consequence  of  the  progressive  development  of  his  organisms,  in 
one  way  only,  language  would  have  remained  substantially  the 
same  to  the  present  time,  or  at  least  we  should  detect  in  all 
languages  some  traces  of  then*  common  descent.  The  extreme 
diversity  of  idioms  and  of  then*  formative  processes,  proves  that 
they   were  created  independently  of  each  other,  and  probably  at 

author's  notice.  It  is  certainly  based  on  the  strict  scientific  method,  and 
would  seem  to  point  at  totally  different  conclusions  from  those  here  so 
confidently  proclaimed.  Thus,  he  points  out  that  the  perfect  is  the  oldest 
organic  tense  both  in  Aryan  and  Semitic,  and  that  the  un reduplicate  Aryan 
perfect,  often  occurring  in  the  "  Vedas,"  shows  a  strong  likeness,  to  the 
Semitic  perfect,  as  thus  : 


Aryan  (unreduplicate  perfect). 
Sing.    1.  apatha 

•j..  apathitha 

3.  apatha 

1  l .  apal  liimfi 

-•  a] 

'.',.  apathuh 


Hebrew. 


\n-QN 
n- 


fem.  r\ 


-QK  fern.      rTQN 

I-  T  T  ;    |T 

■am* 

:i~  t 
DiTDN  fern.    (/TDK 

TUN 


Ethiopia 
abadeku 

abadeka,  fern,  abadekl 

abeda,  fern.  ab£dat 

abadena 

abadekemmuj  fem. 

abadi  ■kenn 
abfidu.  fem.  abi  da 


A^    Baabe   remarks:   "Th<  ;     ambiance  of  the  Aryan  and  Semitic 

paradigm   i  •  (p.  '-■'•)■     ln   ■<■">'  '';iS1'   ,l"'  author's 

dogmatism  on  this  subject  would  seem  to  be  a<  Least  somewhat  premature.— 
Xotc  i»j  Translator. 


306  ORIGINAL   PLURALITY   OF    SrEECH.  [Chap.  yi. 

very  different  epochs.  As,  moreover,  the  principal  irreducible 
linguistic  systems  correspond  in  a  general  way  to  the  leading  races 
of  mankind,  we  argue  that  speech  has  sprung  up  independently 
amongst  sundry  distinct  varieties  of  what  Fr.  Midler  calls  the 
homo  primigmvus,  and  French  anthropologists  the  precursors  of 
■mini." 

Thus  philology  furnishes  a  new  and  formidable  argument  to  the 
polygenists,  who  were  already  supplied  Avith  so  many  before. 
[But  it  is  an  argument  that  the  polygenists,  who  are  all  necessardy 
evolutionists  in  the  Darwinian  sense,  cannot  consistently  make  use 
of.  For  surely  no  form  of  speech  that  ever  has  existed  is  more,  or 
so  much,  removed  from  any  other  form  of  speech  than  is  man 
himself  from  the  lower  orders  of  the  animal  kingdom,  from  which 
on  then  showing  he  must  yet  be  descended.  Hence,  if  the  im- 
possibility of  reducing  man  now  to,  say  a  mollusc,  is  no  argument 
against  the  original  identity  of  man  with  a  mollusc,  why  should  the 
impossibility  of  now  reducing  any  two  or  more  linguistic  systems 
to  a  common  source  be  any  argument  against  the  original  identity 
of  those  systems  1  Speech  changes  much  more  rapidly  than  do  the 
higher  orders  of  the  animal  kingdom ;  hence,  if  there  has  been  time 
for  an  oyster  to  become  an  elephant  or  a  man,  according  to  the 
different  lines  of  development  it  may  have  taken,  why  should  there 
not  have  been  time  for  Chinese,  or  any  other  isolating  tongue,  to 
become  Hebrew  or  Sanskrit,  according  to  the  different  lines  of 
development  it  may  have  taken  through  the  several  isolating, 
agglutinating,  and  inflectional  phases  of  its  prehistoric  and  historic 
life  1  Thus  no  argument  based  on  the  present  disparity  of  human 
speech  ought  to  have  any  force  for  a  consistent  evolutionist  as 
against  the  possible  primordial  unity  of  all  human  speech.] 

Language  being  a  product  of  nature  herself,  being  the  function 
of  a  new  organ,  it  is  evident  that  two  irreducible  linguistic  systems 
point  at  two  different  productive  organs.  We  will  not  folloAv 
Haeckel  in  reducing  to  a  single  race  the  so-called  Indo-Europeans, 
Semites,  Bascpies,  and  Caucasians;  philology  teaches,  and  would  of 
itself  suffice  to  show,  that  Ave  have  here  four  distinct  races.  Their 
differences  may  be  A'ery  slight  in  all  other  respects  besides  that  of 


Chap,  vi.]  ORIGINAL   PLURALITY   OF   SPEECH.  307 

language,  but  in  this  last  respect  it  is  decided ;  and,  as  philologists, 
we  must  conclude  for  the  impossibility  of  a  common  origin. 

History  tells  us  that  a  large  number  of  linguistic  families  have 
perished  without  issue,  and  this  is  but  the  result  of  the  struggle  for 
existence  pervading  all  nature  in  all  time  and  space.  The.  farther 
bade  we  go,  the  more  numerous  do  we  find  the  independent 
linguistic  families,  and  the  same  is  the  case  with  the  races  of  man. 
It  may  be  asserted  without  rashness  that  the  precursor  of  man 
must  have  in  many  places  at  the  same  time  or  successively  acquired 
the  faculty  of  speech  that  was  destined  to  raise  him  to  the  dignity 
of  man.  And  this  is  the  result  that  the  science  of  language  leads 
to,  in  revealing  to  us  a  multiplicity  of  irreducible  linguistic  systems. 

§  3. — In  their  Historic  Life  Language  and  Race  mag  cease  to  be 
Convertible  Terms. 

Thus  we  see,  as  already  stated,  that  in  the  historic  period  of  man 
no  new  linguistic  systems  can  arise.  The  origin  of  language,  the 
acquisition  of  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech,  being  coincident  with 
the  formation  of  the  first  races,  it  follows  that  the  precursor  of 
man  once  extinct,  the  development  of  new  linguistic  systems  is 
absolutely  impossible.  Every  effeel  needs  a  cause,  and  the  cause 
disappearing  the  effect  ceases. 

Bui  after  entering  on  the  historic  stage,  languages,  like  ran  -. 
may  die  nut.  Thus  it  is  that  modern  German  has  extinguished 
Polabish,  a  Slavonic  idiom,  and    old    Prussian,  a  Lettic  dialect. 

Thus  also  Latin  lias  absorbed  her  own  sister  .  Oscan  and   I'lnbiian  ; 

:-li  is  eradicating  Basque  \  and  English  is  sweeping  away  the 
North  American  idioms.  In  France  the  Normans  lost  their  Norse 
tongue,  and  the  Burgundians  their  Teutonic  dialect,  as  did  the 
Lombards  in  Italy. 

Other  languages,  again,  have  attempted  violently  bri   unsucc 

fully  to  usurp  foreign  domain,  at  :  e  with  two  CJralo  Altaic 

i  Europe.    <  >ne  of  th<  -  i    the  Turkish,  which  ha  i  in  vain 

penetrated  to  the  hearl   of   Europe,  bul    no  longer  occupies  more 

than  a   very    mall   portion  of   European  Turkey  itself,   while  in 

X     2 


308  ORIGINAL    PLURALITY   OF    SPEECH.  [Chap.  vi. 

Candia  nearly  all  the  Turks  have  taken  to  Greek.  The  other  is  the 
Magyar,  which  is  now  rapidly  decaying  in  Hungary,  notwithstand- 
ing the  great  privileges  it  enjoys,  and  the  official  countenance  given 
to  it  at  the  expense  of  the  surrounding  tongues.*  But  its  dis- 
appearance may  confidently  he  predicted  sooner  or  later. 

Different  races  often  speak  one  and  the  same  language,  just  as 
one  and  the  same  race  may  speak  several  different  languages,  facts 
which  are  well  known,  and  of  which  a  multiplicity  of  examples 
might  he  adduced.  Some  of  the  Bascpies — the  Spanish  or  genuine 
Basques — still  speak  Escaldunac  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Durango, 
Tolosa,  and  Saint,  Sehastian,  while  others  speak  Spanish  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Yitoria  and  Pamphma.  Some  of  the  Bretons,. 
again,  speak  French,  while  others  still  retain  their  Keltic  tongue. 
Many  Finns  speak  Suomi,  but  many  also  speak  Bussian  exclusively  ; 
and  in  Central  Asia  other  TJralo-Altiac  tribes  have  in  the  same 
way  adopted  Persian.     But  it  would  he  tedious  to  prolong  the  list. 

§  4. — T7ie  Permutation  of  Spedes  in  Philology. 

Once  launched  on  their  historic  life,  the  phonetic  system  and 
forms  of  languages  soon  begin  to  change,  and  become  gradually 
modified.  Consonants  and  vowels  often  change  to  stronger  or 
weaker  consonants,  to  sharper  or  more  open  vowels.  Both  also  fre- 
quently influence  each  other  mutually,  and  such  influence  becoming 
more  and  more  pronounced  the  various  branches  of  a  given  family, 
each  with  their  peculiar  modifying  tendencies,  depart  daily  farther 
and  farther  from  each  other.  Persian  and  French  are  much  more 
different  from  one  another  than  were  old  Persian  and  Latin ; 
English  and  German  than  Anglo-Saxon  and  old  High  German. 
And  not  only  do  the  forms  become  modified,  but  they  at  times 
perish  altogether.  The  common  Aryan  mother-tongue  possessed 
eight  cases,  of  which  Latin  retained  scarcely  more  than  two-thirds, 
reduced  in  the  Langue  d'oil  to  two,  while  in  modern  French  they 
have  quite  disappeared.  So  also  the  three  primitive  Semitic  cases 
have  been  preserved  in  literary  Arabic  alone. 

*  "  Les  Serbes  de  Hongrie,"  p.  310.     (Anonyme.)     Prague,  1873. 


Chap,  vi.]  ORIGINAL   PLURALITY   OF    SPEECH.  309 

But  this  is  so  far  a  degradation  rather  than  a  transformation. 
True  transformation,  with  which  we  are  now  concerned,  is  a  varia- 
tion of  species,  a  phenomenon  in  philology  which  has  long  heen 
scientifically  demonstrated,  and  which  those  alone  will  venture  still 
to  doubt  who  confound  etymology  with  the  science  of  language. 

It  lias  been  shown  in  the  course  of  this  work  that  all  languages 
were  divided  according  to  their  structure  into  three  distinct  classes, 
••the  isolating,  the  agglutinating,  and  the  inflectional.  In  the  first 
class  avo  have  neither  prefixes  nor  suffixes,  the  root  itself  in  its 
crude  state  forming  the  word,  so  that  here  the  sentence  consists  of 
nothing  bui  a  series  of  independent,  free,  and  isolated  roots.  In 
the  second  class  the  word  is  formed  of  two,  three,  four  or  more 
elements,  oiu •  of  these  roots  alone  preserving  its  full  primitive  force, 
while  the  others,  losing  a  part  of  their  original  meaning,  are 
attached  to  the  principal  root  as  relational,  that  is,  secondary 
elements.  In  the  third  class  not  only  are  diverse  elements  aggluti- 
nated, as  in  the  preceding,  but  the  root  itself  may  become  modified, 
changing  its  vowel  with  its  change  of  meaning.  These  three  stages 
have  been  described  in  their  place,  with  examples  calculated  to 
clearly  illustrate  their  peculiar  features. 

It  is  now  well  ascertained  that  the  languages  of  the  second  class 
have  passed  through  the  first  stage  before  arriving  at  their  present 
.  while  those  of  the  third  have  successively  passed  through  the 
two  previous  stages.  Before  being  agglutinating,  the  Uralo-41taIc 
idioms  were  isolating  or  monosyllabic,  and  before  becoming  in- 
flectional, the  Semitic  had  been  firs!  monosyllabic  and  then 
il  inating. 

The  proof  of  ihis  permutati f  linguistic  species  is  self-evident. 

Thus  all  the  monosyllabic  tongues  betray  clear  proofs  of  a  more  or 
realised  tendency  towards  the  agglutinating  process,  while 
several  agglutinating  idioms  in  the  ame  way  manifest  tendencies 
rds  inflection.  Lastly,  in  the  inflecting  tongues  themselves 
there  occur  numerous  traces  of  the  agglutinating  and  even  of  the 
isolal  ing  pha  w. 

Thus  we  have  Been  thai  Chine  e  grammar  already  distinguishes 
the  roots  into  full  and  empty  (p.   37),  a  distinction   which  is  the 


310  ORIGINAL   PLURALITY  OF   SPEECH.  [Chap.  vi. 

first  step  towards  agglutination.    Nothing  was  in  fact  further  needed 

than  to  solder  the  empty  on  to  the  full  roots,  in  order  to  pass  com- 
pletely from  the  first  to  the  second  phase.  ( )f  all  the  isolating 
tongues,  Tibetan  seems  to  show  the  most  marked  tendency  towards 
agglutination,  so  much  so  that  it  has  at  times  been  wrongly  taken 
for  an  agglutinating  language. 

The  transition  from  agglutination  to  inflection  is  quite  as  easy 
to  understand,  and  all  who  have  studied  the  Uralo-Altalc  group  are 
aware  that  the  first  traces  of  inflection  are  much  more  marked  in 
the  Finnic  than  in  the  other  groups,  especially  the  Tungus. 

But  the  most  curious  point  to  observe  is  the  passage  from  the 
agglutinating  to  the  inflectional  state.  Thus  a  number  of  Aryan 
forms  are  still  in  the  agglutinating  period,  as,  for  instance,  the 
vocative,  which  is  nothing  but  the  theme  itself:  aJcva  =  Sanskrit 
ag,va  =  Latin  eque  =  0  horse!  where  the  radical  ami  derivative 
elements  are  intimately  connected,  neither  presenting  any  trace  of 
phonetic  modification  or  of  inflect  ion.  Nay  more,  unmistakable 
traces  of  the  monosyllabic  period  still  linger  in  the  Aryan  tongues, 
as  in  Sanskrit,  which  has  a  somewhat  numerous  class  of  nouns, 
whose  theme  is  nothing  but  the  monosyllabic  root  itself.  It  little 
matters  that  it  modify  the  vowel,  -or  suffix  the  case-endings,  the 
fact  remains,  that  we  are  here  evidently  dealing  with  a  primitive 
monosyllabic  element.  In  conjugation  also,  the  augment  a,  pre- 
fixed to  the  imperfects  and  aorists  (old  Persian  abara  =  Greek 
e<fiepe),  is  nothing  but  an  old  monosyllabic  form  of  the  first  period. 

However,  if  it  is  easy  to  detect  in  the  more  recent  stages  vestiges 
of  the  older  periods,  it  is  no  less  easy  unhesitatingly  to  group  the 
various  families  of  languages  in  their  respective  periods  or  classes.. 
Here  the  broad  features  are  an  unerring  guide. 

The  absence  of  intermediate  stages  between  the  existing  and  the 
older  forms  has  often  been  urged  as  an  objection  to  the  theory  of 
transmutation.  ~\Ve  have  not  here  to  pronounce  on  a  cpiestion  of 
zoology  or  botany,  but  we  would  remark  that  where  language  is 
concerned  the  objection  has  no  force  whatsoever,  for  the  process 
of  evolution  is  here  easdy  followed,  and  in  fact  detected  in  active 
operation.     The  transmutation  of  species  is  here  a  patent  fact,  and 


Chap,  vi.]  ORIGINAL   PLURALITY  OF   SPEECH.  311 

one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  science  of  language.* 
And  is  not  this  in  itself  a  fresh  and  brilliant  proof  of  the  truth 
discussed  at  the  opening  of  this  work,  that  philology  is  above  all  a 
natural  science  1 

One  word  in  conclusion.  We  have  spoken  successively  of 
plurality  of  origin  and  of  transmutation,  terms  which  to  some  may 
contradictory,  but  which  are  easily  reconciled.  The  doctrine 
of  the  original  plurality  of  languages  and  races  in  no  way  pretends 
tn  clash  with  the  more  general  doctrine  of  cosmic  unity.  After  all, 
we  must  still  acknowledge  that  all  existing  forms,  without  excep- 
tion, are  but  varied  aspects  of  matter,  which  is  one  as  it  is  infinite. 
But  this  unity  does  not  at  all  prevent  such  and  such  identical,  or 
even  analogous  forms  from  being  developed  simultaneously  in 
different  centres,  nor  from  being  reduced  directly  and  without 
intermediate  links  to  one  common  form.  But  whether  such  ana- 
logous but  distinct  forms  have  sprung  from  one  original  source  or 
not,  it  is  now  impossible  to  determine. 

Eowever,  this  matters  little,  and  the  ascertained  impossibility  of 
reducing  a  multiplicity  of  linguistic  families  to  a  common  centre  is 
for  us  sufficient  proof  of  the  original  plurality  of  the  races  that  have 
been  developed  with  them,  the  acquisition  of  the  faculty  of  articu- 
!i  heing  coincident  with  the  appearance  of  man  himself  on 
the  earth,     [lint  see  Translator's  remarks  a1  p.  306.] 

*  V,  ■■  Language  and  the  Si  inly  of    Language,"  3rd  ed.,  p.  175. 

London,  1S7U. 


312 


APPENDIX. 


M 

(—1 

A 

Ph 

Ph 
<1 


Sh  ~ 

to 

03     tO     03 

enus  or  stock,  th 
ly  occurs,  withou 
oughly  establishec 
le  Lettic  group  o 
hat  Albanian  is  a 

"ndepeudeut 
or  that  thei 
independent 

CS 

s 

to 
to 

"  because  th 
polysynthesi 
question  ha 

n  '%>, 

rp 

O 

thetic, 
tween 
til  the 

bD  a   u  ;s  "^ 

t>i 

O     O             03 

2  „  £  <«  p 
,p  ©  -^  o 

oo  .     u 

o  a  m 

a 

co 

M     03 

■S  p  ^2^ 

,d    =*    to 

o 

Ph    9  ■" 

S  »  "8  1 s 

.2  9  a  §  « 

tl     °     rr,     a     CO 

• '?  .2 

CO   r- 

.P  tg 

as  " 

diffei 

reta 

to  _p 
«  r* 


CO     03  ^ 


§      2    O      O   --2    «   r- 

*-<»,=  =  .S  a  g  o^ 


S    ce 

-P       FL 


5M 


n  -S   C  £ 


so  c=  2 

"US* 


be  a 

.  .    £  h^  -^  ," 

Ph  O 

_  p">-~:p  - 
a  03  r—  □  ~ 

o-p  B^Sft 


pS  P3    03    03    03 

g  •£  a  o  rd 

m   ho 


03  .a  3  6c  co 


a  a  03  o  o  t-» 


Ph  Ph 


C5 


w    03    >,  a 


a  o    . 

£  Ph  9 


.2  § 


«  ,3.5  .2-*j  £  £ 

i-^  3  -s  ■£  ~  *-•  ° 
rp       o3  03  ,^  o  -^i 

c2  rt~  »  J.  .2  .2  ^ 

M  -a  h  a  -p  -u  o 

£       O  HJ    C3,P    CO    3 
a    jj     >1   fe     O     03 

2  g  "=«  Jh      5  « 
5  5  ^  "^  J<  m  a 


s  p 

03  <j 


03 


03 


1  is 


43  ca  •£ 

a  to  o3 

ce  a  m 

as  -I-B.S 


CO  'S 

to  ce 
rf  £ 

03  ,2 


03 


2  a  -s  PP  B 


03 


c3 


oj  a 


a  & 
*^ 

03 

•tH     03 

bo  S 

o  "t; 

2  o 


03  O 
-+J  03 
fl  ^ 

O  M 

fH 
!Z3     O 

oa  ^2 

.a  03 

ri     03 

a  bo 

O  CO 
Ph  Ph 


03  ch   r^J     03     w     JH 

»o'"oHja 

•=*  p<  ©  ^      -S  -a 
'5b  M  ^       t^^  0 

gj  a5  a5" 

*    C    03  -     e2 


t^3  a  ^  S  =3^ 

2>  a  d  s  s^s 


P  .  S 

<«  §  S  £>  °  -S 

3     C3  „5  P     03     ^ 

Ov  -'h    O  .£  -P     03 


v-'     a-  -r 
H 
Ph 
O 


i  03  a^      s 

1  =      8  ^  ns    Ph" 


<+;  oo 
ew  ,a 


S  ce  s  -    a 
5   g  2  t^o^  o 
"43  2-3'2S-5^'jq3" 

03^     S  *     o  S     Phm 

a  a-s  o  oT'»oa  a  gm  § 
S ■! ^ £  e, 8 'S  ^^^^ 

P-i1^         bD^H    0:0     -  o 

ro         pn"        '^a         pHC3-~^.r< 
oa£^j2a^'H-jOSHqa3o3r=i;;r- 

03  tM  &H  ^2  "<     CO     Ph   O     P     2H     c3^2-a^     S     03 


5^   - 
>5:  P  rP 


00  p  §  ° 


P  i 


d 

r-t  id  i-H  i-H  1>  O  »0 

to 
a 
Ph 

CO  Ol  -H  rH  O  00  00 

r-l  rH   i-H  CM   C-J  i-H  rH 

0  0  <u 

30 

o'o  bis  a  a  to 

Ph  Ph  -^  i-H  hh  1-1  -hh 

•     03 

•     03 

-2 

CB 

-    03 

:  p     :    :    :    :    : 

TH  •rH 

kH     hH> 

p  a 

CO     03 

0 

'Hb  ?c 

0 

1-^ 

0 

t»  0 

J 

•  .®  r2  .  .  .  ,*  . 

P= 

"  ob  •      ■  a 

03"  co                -55 

.a  0  c3       rt  5?  p 

3    *     §     §    -g  <j     gH 

I"1     °    ^   •-   'P  <H-(    !~5 

03    03    0      ,  jq   ho    g 
Ul  >  S  <l  <J  P  t>l 

[ 

! 
p. 

1     0 

•    •    ;    ■    •  a    • 

_c3 

0 

T3 

03          'Ph 
■  rH              0 

C 

•       -       •    P    0  .H       - 

ci 

:    :    :  oj  -^  ^3     : 

_>. 

a  1  J  1  ^  3 

.a  r—  Cp  |-L|  |_|           ^3 

s 

p,  a  '3   |    |  .0  0 

a  ph  cs  a  a  .-s  <i 

O     G3  TI     C"     CO     r-       1 

,S"i  a  fc"  E?  §  -§ 

-<  ^  f5  -^  -^  h  CO 

Q> 

S 

& 

H 

3a-5      a 

a  0  ^a  0  cs  _, 

a  p.  co  p:  ^  :a  0 

£  -a  oj  0  be  f3  a 

PhO    OMtH    00- P 

<H   <j   <j    ^   <^   <J   <tj 

pq^H 

rH  (N  CO  •<?  IO  OD  1> 

APPENDIX. 


313 


oc  --Z  rr  ia  x  *->  O 
li  ™  c.  re  co  "  i^ 

-MH  t-I  i-l 


he  be  a  be  bCo  a 
<  < M  cl,  m 


T  -  -  W  i"  ■>!  I"  -  M       TH  t*  ■*  <m  j>  co  «o 

■»  n  :i  'C  o  o  M  M  O       o  ia  M  h  C  ::  :: 

,_i^.,_,--.>I,-i,-i<N  HHH«q  mh 


fcO    03 


ir-;~  =  =  a'oo- 
<cl  Pn  PLH  >->  M  l-H  P4  Pn  l-H 


a  a  "o  ='  zt-  a  -1- 

1— I  t— I  p~    1—1  <s  !— I  <5 


£  ?  ti.  9  ! 


—    _     X 


—    a    r.    =   o 


»  5 


<fl  .a 

"a  do 


a:  o 


a  c  <  <  -  -  -" 


:-=—=-— 


-  -5   - 

-S    3   a 
ci   :i   a 


-o-a     a 

p_ 

CO 

O    3           - 

H  o    ■  a 

a 
:    :  s  a 

•  a 

:   be 

-    - 

•    •  &  .- 

•  _o 

•  <a 

P 

5  o      « 

-  O  | 

P 

o 

,  a 

.  3 

i li  Sea  [slands 
ada  and  Dpp< 
vcr  Mississippi 
bia,  Syria,  Eg 
ia,  Ohaldea   .. 

aema  ... 
n  h  America,  0 
tish  aud  Dutcl 
tienia,  Turkey 

a 

:   o 

a 

a  ~ 
O    o 

5*  'j 

=8  - 

•r1.    co 

o 

a: 

2  5 
bo."| 

ffl  -3 
g    60 

5  o  o  ^  >,  ^  o  n  H       Ku^°-^5^° 
x  |zj  j  <j  do  -1  x  ffl  <!      <,  S  PP  <q  ■<  •<  m 


a 


;<! 


■f  J?  -2        hoEH  fcj  t§P4 

P~?  a  i-    I  ^"S   - 


g  S-il 

g,   B      i 

„     -   — 


<     =- 


-   a 


i 


-  ■/.  ~.  -  ■/.  7.  <  ±  U-  "      <  -  •/-  /.  <'<-><5 


; 

pa 

s 

— 

-- 

o 

o 

be 

a; 

§1 

S  -: 
■a  o 

3 

CO 

- 

ai 

i) 

1) 

i— i 

; 

1—1 

; 

a) 

w 

_ 
— 

!z< 

a 

-. 

a 

— 

pq 

a 

- 

3 

a 

o 

a 
a 

- 

>i 

>   a 

"1 

•/. 

< 

cc 

H 

< 

l-l 

< 

O 

II 


a 
"3  o 


5  5.-C  -  '■ 


*  a  o       ;  =  ;  ; 


^  ^  a:  -a  ~  a  a 
--  --  -----  . — -  -- 


ja  .a  p  es  ea 

■   -■  a   a 
a   a   a   -   r 


-    _    1   —  -M  :-  —         •---•-/ 


o  a 
g  5 


a  a  a 


-   -      .a  - 


0  E  a 


<<<<  <<-;<< 


~  -  n  -  a 

3     ? 


311 


APPENDIX. 


Pm  - 


bC  CD        be  it  it  c£  tc  il  ic""^    il.  tC 

<J<|      <t;  <j  <*  ■<  <;  ■<  ■<  p_  ■<  <; 


•<;  <q  i— it— i<;t— i  <5 1— <  <5  -<  p^ 


<N1 


n-j         :  " 


c3 

_ 

o 

■— 

o 

- 

— 

■"-• 

= 

a 

o 

o 

rrt 

£ 

J 

rfl     a 

,JLC  s 
"3  o 


-7s     "E  '' 

d  »H     fl 


XI 

:    :° 

ai    o 

.1-' 


.    i  —    0 

,     ■'   o   ££ 
O  ^  O 

:  —   a  =« 

o  « ►».  o  Bill's  a 
■5  ^°  ^  _  ~  -  9  3 

t3  fc?"  n-(   r^      C      0      O   -M 

'A^    «S    O    fl  Eu    of  I 

ce  rt  S,   „  g  ts  "E  M 

-^     CO     -ct  —  (J     K  <"     o 

s  s  ^  |  Jzj  _~j  ,_]  t, 

-  -  i~3 

X  X  ~  -- 


®  9  -e  m 


<) 


:.=  <; 


:   02   «  <1  tf2  ;3  „q    x 

^  si  g  m  pm  _r  S 

.-3  PQ  h-;  -  _  eg  bw 


•S  o  d  S  j 
C£  cx~ 


C    05  "  ^ 


■^koh     Khl3PosBKaaa 


t~>   :-== 


a 


>>  N         o3   §   03   «         c3cSc3c3o3c3<3cSc3o3 


cjj  OU  C£_ 


c3   o   cb    s    a)    -    ^  .—  ■—  .a 
pqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpq 


•go      I 


C5©i-H<NOT-*jlU5«0.fc~ce 

i —  T  — 


-r  »-~  >~  0  m  ir j  ti  10  io  li 


APPENDIX; 


315 


to 

-  -  x  10  oo  o  o 

H  IB  M  O  O          rH  <M 

CO^NO^^I" 

CS  i-H  ■*  lO 

MJONJJT'NOMV'OO          lOi-H 

nN-?o«o>N 

n  n  im  o 

0. 

1M              rH  ^H  sg  (M 

!N                    I-H                    <N 

(N  i— 1          i— I          (N  i— 1 

(M  ?-"  i-l  .-1 

Form 

Of 

Speech, 

>->  "<  <.  Ph  "<  M  I- 

<j  M  M  <]  <j       <;  .q 

111. 

Pol. 
Ag.? 

In. 

Is. 
In.? 
Pol. 

a  *o  "o  a 
i— '  p_  p_,  i-^ 

Kalahari 

c3 

rt 

:    :  ^  S    :    :    : 

S3 

-    ■  d  *»    :    :    : 

■     -     -  ©     •     •   c3 

to           a 

fl 

c3            ca 

«-    - 

z 

.-...«.. 

a, 

:     :  ^  ^  ^     :     : 

:    :    =S    :    =3 

o 
u 

3  a* 

o    si    I 

—    P 
o3    to 

A 

5 

hernia... 
legal   ... 
nut  Lake  Chad 
azil,  east  of  the  £ 
luchistan,  near  K 

il  tuny  ... 
Igaria  ... 

:    :    ijpqo    :    j 

:        :  B  >-l  'fl    ■  9 

■  £»   -  H  «h  «H     :  H 

ill  hail 

abria  ... 
ifornia 
mbodia 

lestine,  Phoenicia 
ina  (south-east) 
ia  Minor  (extinct 
nezuela  and  Frei 

talonia 

vte  of  New  York 

wer  Mississippi 

sopotamia 

3    a  >a  ~   o   -   a 

-    «    7i    7i  ,p    £fi    « 

o3  -B   O   oj 

SKPSPP 

<  pq  pq  o  x  x      H 

OOOPh  0<<  r* 

OiC^^ 

:  g©    :   :    :    : 

:    :    :    :   1 

— .      ' 

- 

en 

,jfl 

p. 

,2 

u 

3 

- 

- 

- 

~ 

£ 

- 

'- 

cv. 

3 

r 

— 

O 

c 

— 

o 

- 

- 

| 

-     - 

0 

i'i 

a- 

Slav 

West 
-Neo. 

It] 

- 

^ 

.- 

:: 

i 

5 

e 

g 

- 

9 

r 

- 

<< 

'J 

- 

<i 

<  -  -. 

— 

- 

3 1—      3 


£>£> 


od 

t!          « 

l-J 

bo  ;  r 

c 

-  id  o 

fc 

8  ®  o 

=   "5   o 

^"o'i 

b  * 


,fl 

- 

.- 

1-1 

- 

I 

o 

b 

a 
< 

c 

— 

X 

d 

- 
- 

r. 
r 

p 

a 

— 

= 

< 

h-l 

-<  CC 

-  ■=        -S        I     "Sa 

5  9  J  a  8  J    s  fii^  bd  B  B  k  J 

'.    ^  :   ;  ;   ;   s  :   E  = 

pqpqpQmPQpqnpqpqpqeqpqi 


-   rt    ca  •- 

.5  p  '"5  -a  _ 

1 —  tn.  ^    sl    Z    "  • — 

^2  a  3  fi  'C  'C  C  -3  >.  «  "« 

c;"r:^r3cJc3-a^ 
-- 


2  o  S.«, 


-    X    It     -    :    2    .-    2   '_    r  -  i  -        1  ~ 


316 


APPENDIX. 


CO-flO^H^HlOlOOOiS 
03MMH«»ia«nNON 
i-HrH^H  r-Ji-H  fH    ^H    M   r-<   rH 


00  J>-  CO  CD  (30  CO 

in  i^  i- — M  co  *> 

!>l  i-i         i>1  CI  <N 


rH  CO  O  00 
OS  lO  00  CO 
Ol  <M   t-l 


0C  blj'g      O     VI      O      O      bO    0D    CC    rj      bC^ 

<!  <|&HfL|'-(PHpL,-<<j<1l-l<1pH 


d  a  5f  c  a  a 
i — ii — i  -^5 1— i  i—i  i — i 


I — I  I — I  -=cj 


«» 


to 
'o 


bJD 


d  d 


H  o 


ffi      OJ      0      r]      0     d 


,.d  'C 


CC  £ 


a  o  d  d  p  "K  -aj 

C-i      CH      (11      ri      C*    rr,        ^ 


a! 

■i 

- 

e8 

ft 
ft 

ft 

= 

h- 1 

O 
CI 

o 

d 

< 

^P 

■  9   i     ■  *      9 

fe  c!>  ■  s  -s  "3 

o  *  :5  £  8  .S  3 
d'-C  ^  £  «  73  rd  H 

§  Ii  i.3  §  I 

i ii iow § 

r£     >>   C3      g     ffl      ffi      £> 


£>  H  CQ  <J  U  P  02  02  <j         WP 


S6> 

O     Q     Cj 

^    ^r^    ^ 

W^C/2 

cfl  3         PL, 

1  1  1 

d  d  d 

'S      -2  o 

si    d    d 

r2      Oj      fl      C3 

o   t->3-3 

fl   "i   S 

<<< 

P^aa 

s  *  ©  £ 

O    O    ffl    ft-- 

-•  Si  d  ft 

O  -H  .s  -H     U     H 

.d  .d  .d  .d  jd  xi 
QQOOOO 


2  =3 

R  "to 

^  ,5 

rd  J 


d  a 


-5  £  a 


Z  g  o  d        ft  £  S 


-djqn;.ddo        b'obbS 
OOOOOO       OOQOO 


c3    to    TO    to" 

PQfiQ 


APPENDIX. 


317 


"3    3         if 

Pn*-1     < 


bo 
-3 


to 


d  bo 


o  o  rt 


<3 


bo 


bO  b£ 


PP 


C 

O 

i"3 

© 

,H 

5 

£H 

o 

« 

^ 

J 

o 

- 

^ 

- 

a 

- 

-W 

> 

od 

tu 

as 

M 

k& 

:« 


a  -<i 


P-i   »  ^ 


a 

a 

O      M 

•* 

•^  ~£ 

bo  .as 
a    :  g 

a! 

a 

o        S 

pt(    "g 

(M 

o        ^2 

a       a 

jf  3  6  ° 

si 

a    o 

.3  So 

O 
-1     CO 

E7-T3 

fe  a 

o  "S.r3 

.3  "3 

^  3 

1?  3 

m   fn 

a  io 

-2  bo  o 

a 

ffiWCC 

as 

M 

•a     <J 


O    0 

:       g  g  : 

0 

a 
a 

•  s>  S            :  0 

'-■-■        ■& 

g    ^P 

,a 

a  .a            .9 

3        =    1 

_o 

a 

3"  -    a             a  '2 

h3       £  •=     : 

n 

0    K  Z?    .    Q  M    0 

-Nco- 

ape\ 

Wesi 

h 

0 
■"1 

"as 
W 

CO 

•nquin  gi 
litic   (Eg 
itic  (Hin 
Polabisb 
Sinhales 
an     Neo 
an— Ten 

in 
Lcn 

can 

■ano 

3 

a 
3 

a 

tr  Z    a    B    0    r"-  r 

«J  jc  m  33 

fc 

<l 

n 

-t:  _:    -    »  ®  H  Jj 

=. 


>         bo 

S.9 

S  - 

•0 

r3      > 

^             <" 

CO  .S 

2            -~ 

■  rfH 

S           *i-i 

—   a 

3           ^ 

10      a 

a  0 
aj  _a 
0  ~ 

3         rt 

U     CO 

1        » 

C  S 

j£'     S  .2 


aa 

fO  "d 

a  3 

II 

a  Ph 

a  .2  rt 


o  a 


§,2  ami ,2 

•-:  -  ►»  a  'S  o  r-2  a 

a   ^   c-   «         -     ~   — 
S        <  '->        DO  V.  Uj 


•5  3^ 

-r   >    'j   « 

a  a:  'r    — 
a  o  ■-  -a 


a  a   a       4S        a  j 

o  'a  '~  .-  cQ    :  a  « 

to       o      ^2  o  — ~   m     '  -—  -r 

a       'ti        «  j   >.m<   ^   - '-   to 

p      p      p  ■^^■^■X  .- 

-.  1         :t         —  ■".  X   1  - 


W      yy 


2  o-2 
a  a   a 

g'j  ^ 

Ul       a.       / 

_    ^.    _ 

CO  — 

1     !-H    ^H 


318 


APPENDIX. 


o 
to 

o  co 

CO           tBOOOHH-TlCOCQHCOil 

—   1~ 

ClOQNO        CD 

OS  lO 

1(5         CDlOOOlCCWUnCCOtB 

■*  ■* 

CO  CO  CO  -fi  O          IC 

N 

CM                CM  CM  (M 

CM  5Q 

NHNN 

h     .a 
g«8 

c  o  o 

«-    ty 

bb      ti  be  be  tii  bo  a"  ^  be  a  a  -'  -ic 

a  a 

a  a  a'  a'  ci      fce 

<3 

<;      -=^J  -«{ -<  -<  -=c!  i — 1 1 — i  -=c!  i — 1 1 — 1 1 — i  -=5 

}—'.  i— i 

h- 1  1— 1  1— 1  (— 1  <^           •<( 

:    : 



£ 45    '«$    "    '    ' 

a 



OQ                              (25                    N 

a 

:      0:::::0-g:rfl: 

o     : 

1                  ^     o     o 

cS                                cj        _"        ^  ^ 

>— i 

:      o      i    :    :    1    :  °      i  5    !  o  5 

S                                 (M        £         £  O 

'S    : 

3 

"                                               ,H            K~           ^ 

,£: 

1 
o 
o 

■  ^5 
e3 

O  O 

"S  « 

©  a 

—  o 
SO 

£  ? 

h5q 

-     S 8  .  £    £3 

-^                          -t>        a  ~  o 

o                       o       m  a  a  t; 

l— '  —   2   ? 
t»  o    •    -    -    -  a  cs       c  •— 

a  a                  -a  o  a  w  a  * 
^S                    g  S  .S  CM  H  gJ 

£      v3  S         :  w    :  .2  ^<  <£  2  ^  02 
jtj      .t  a  a  .a  co  £  a  ^  S  o  a  a 

o    . 

o     • 
02      " 

o  .-» 

■a  co 
.bpV 

5  o 
w  a 

a"^ 

co  "S 

o 
a       ^o 

•5  .5  3    -    -        : 
&  a  r^    :    : 

§  ^  3  --a  ^.     ^ 
^°^g^     a 

£  rg  J  ^^           eJ 

J  o  o  3  o       o 

125  02  02  0  02        02 

'S3  S       3      2  ^s         ^         .2 

:  S^   :    :  "Sr-    : 
a      __^  S  - 

gl 

o 
O 

O    c3 

'3  IS 

J  |  .£-S52.|  .  ..a  .  .1-  . 

»    '     :ftSo  j    :    :        :    :  w    : 
£  a       =S'Si           aa       =  5< 

S      .2  bej 

"  a    '  a  'a 

cs  cTrt^S,  bo  . 

£3     I   .2    1      |     h    (3   o 

s 
1 

o    1 

1    o      S.  aS  ?'a      *S  <s'a  d  2 
©a    :^g]c3o    iS^o^bo 

&^      bb^  "Jm"a       t^6ao-« 

flo§s°^^l g6l        IS 

•2  .2 

fc< 

cv-    fl 

a  1 

5  i=i  a 

oa.-aaaSog 

b  n 

°  b  b 

m   H  i 

O    H    *    U    l*  tw  t-1  '^ 

d 

:  o 

^2 

fc 

bo 

cS    . 
t>    a 
m    O 

E  2 

.5           a 

= .:    j  Bra  1  a  m  a  §  -|  ^  ^ 

o 

rf  S       a  ~  ^ 
-2  '5  a  g  ]£  a  § 

)S    cj   d 

a   a   is  d  ce  ~>   ~ 

H  SI 

fe&H         fi,  fe  fk,  £h  fe  fe  fe  Ph  fe  fe  [=, 

aoo 

3SOOOC^ 

io  to 

t^-co      q  o  h  m  m  -?  io  »  n  x  a 

(Sz 

CM  CM          NmMWnCCCOMMCOCO 

^  ^i 

I— 1  1— 1           i-Hi— li— li— I^Ht— I^Mr^f— 1  r- li— 1 

1    ,H  ,-1 

1    i-H  r-i  i-l  rH  r-4  iH 

APPENDIX. 


319 


30  00          00  US          WiOti 

IN       00  so  o  o       us    | 

ft 

re  re  --r  t>  y.  ~  i~~  o  *~-  >~       or?       w  >i       in  i-i  as 

<N  H  N  iH  H  H          <N  (N                 NN                 i-l          i-li-Hi-l 

H                             I-l                   CM 

Form 
of 

Speech. 

a  «*  a  a  Jj¥  a  A  a  a  j*> 

a  a       -r-"B      "3 

HH          ■<  H          PLi 

"o  a 

....     .  1 

a       tc  it  =  bo      a 
H       <;  •<  h  <;       h 

<y 

•    •        :    :  o    : 

:     :              ■   >,    ■ 
d 

:         ::::?: 

Ph 

o 

o 

::::::::■-  o 

-     ■          •     •  ~- 

c3 

02 

o 

5       a    . 

:    :    :  .5 

:     '.         :     :  *w     : 

;     ;s  \~&  \ 

C 

o 

-a     05     ri                            H 

2                     t3 

o       M  2 

a      «i  „h 

■  ~1         .    I- 1   HH 

ft 

"  d     ■     :  5  a     -    :     :     : 

:  '•-*              .   *~*    - 

5 

a  a      .-s  g  a      .a  a 

13  «    :  "S  °  te  JP-    :  3  3 

?     5    fl   -"     ^     -       •«"o           r-l     d 

S3               to 

■■zo       £     :  3     : 

O          eS 

03       : 

o     • 

o 

a 

S?           S       5   = 

oQ                c3        h  _,-, 

*V        „  o  C    -  s     : 
h       h  tca^  <V     • 

-am® 

a?          t— l          —       . 

p 

—      i-H-gSg  §    : 

...sS  -•=  ?  .—  ^^^o 

7i    vr   _    r.     -    i.  :-    -  .-     -      -_ 

c    -~        po  ~   :  _   x   x   3  o 

:   ■   -  '.  -  i-  :  i  "•   >   - 
-J    'j    ;  ^    ;    =    O  ^    =  •.:  .': 

0  0  x  «$taHoaP3P3C5 

do?      co  S  5  £ 
■w  d        _  rr  i.   o 

S  s      -  fS  r  •? 

■""'G        :  5  o  " 

3       02  Pn  P5 

H       ' 

,a  •*> 
-  ?. 

a         rd          Oh 

.2       -r"  ©  .S«w  a    0 

a     |£-S°Sg 

h         rt   o   ci   c   n    ' 

-4     ooa^ss 

:3~    ::::::::     : 

—  J,     :     :     : 

:  /     :    i    :    r    : 

0 

—   - 

•-^  o 

ft 

d  ^ 

r;  S 

|   1     :    :      1    : 

:  g  0  g    :    :    =  ,3    : 

=    =           -     - 

•-  =      6  o  g 

e 
— 
S 
>. 

a 

■5  i  £  -L          i  «     o 

a  -a  3 .2    .        .='=.'= 
J  o  °^    :  o    :  .8  P    :  '-> 

O  IK)  0   g        —         d    -    0  ~ 

5   =  '-  ^  ■-  -   =  -  v.   z- 

*  "on         5   g 

•  .2 
a 

h- 1 

■«  .5       r£.-  h 
o  «      S0  a  a 
"1  ?    :  fe  S  §  -2 

^     O             H     "     CJ     O 

3h  h«u>j 

- 

ilulAliijfi 

S  8  3  -a    ■'  *  >  -  *  —  - 

\  i  s  a  a 
■   o  a  ©  a 

°     I 

-    s    O    O     -  U    ?            1 

<  ■_'  «|  •/"  7  <  —  <  <  —  "• 

h  ^      a  a 

-  - 

-   -   B  —   =  2  r*1 
DQ  S        h  02  «  -Jj 

::::::::. 3    :: 

:  u         :     : 

a 

7-. 

:    :        :    :    :  "a 

d 

3 

- 

_    _  2  E  _" 

a  <      §  m 

o  ._ 

o  S 

|    e9 

— .s, 

"S  '5* 

'G  :d       h  ^  o  h 
E  a      a  2  S  h 

3d       do 

pz  a      pr  —  _z  — 

/    r.   "    —  :  i  :-.-■--•--  i  -  K 

r.  -        —  *  i 

w  — 

koee       i-  / 

ec  £       s  -^  -  i~ 

1 1            HH 

H    H 

^  ^      "F*  ^  ^  '-' 

320 


APPENDIX. 


° 
io 
as 

O  -? 
f-i  1-1 

— «  -71  X"*»  *rfl  CO 
OS  35  ■*}<  CM  © 

1— 1   t— 1          rH  CM 

CC  CO 
10  10 

CM 

CD 
CO 
rH 

cn  -#  1-1  r-i  i> 

rH  ■<#  CO  CO  CO 
N  NH         CM 

O«00 

rH 

35  rH 

x>co 

rH 

j   Form 

of 
Speech. 

t-i  r- 1 

a  a'  sp"o  a 

^r3 

<1 

a'  a  0  |j  a 

1— 1   h-H   p_|   <3    H 

be  bi  bi 

a  bb 

r- 1  <J 

-  =a 


— ^rt 


X  0 

0  S  00^ 

0  a 

a  0  a  -^ 

c3    > 

■e *  S  § 

.3  0 

Pro 

and 
7.0 
•th-e 

a 

- 

Si 

0  5 

uwest 
(west 
Colon 
;o  (noi 

^©_ 

-a  -^ 


OrH. 


P      -S£ 


0  *  2   • 

a  .a  0    : 

£  i2  rd 

«  £  " 

-g  g 

r2 

^fl  0     • 

•  a 

0  EiJ    ' 

•    c3 

a  S  -e  <s 

Asia  Mi 
d  (west 
rork,  soi 
of  Biafi 

3 

.    c3 

?flr^« 

0 

.g  cs  >  ,a 

!>> 

r^ 

a    c3 

a  Id    J    be 

H 

&  > 

►Sr^^S 

1— 1 

H 

cS    a 

*-3   >"~5 

.  -§  .°  ^j  .8  .3  °D 
a  h  t3  -q  ^8  ?3  "§ 

.a  <J  a  ^  a  a  o 

^O  ^^^     M   *7  ^   ^ 


a     ^ 


a, -5 


<D  a  f^  ©  >>  >>rr- 
<D  CD  H  ©  H  fj  a 
CC  02  <5  CQ  ■<  <!  hh 


5  be 


H    ^> 


ca  ^ 


t=><1 


:    :    :  cs    : 

o  P  a  -S 
§•2  &©P 
""So 
o  .© 


fe 


O      ©  <£)      £4 

'^1  I    a  w  1 

,      «      i  i      O      rf  h 

:  m  a  a  ;-v  a  a 

!  "    a  a    eg  -g  a 

;  ©  >v  t>>rg  g  h 

©  H  ^  a  "  j 

dq<i  <5  m  n  <1 


=2  ai^3 
s  o  o  S 
:2  t;  Qj   s 


0  &5 

1   o   c 


P^B 


0 

s 

High  Lusatia 
Himyavitic  .. 
Hindi 
Hindu 
Hindui 
Hindustani  ., 
Hottentot    .. 
Huastek 
Huzvavesh  .. 

Ibo 

Icelandic 

Ife 

Ingush 

Innuit 

Ionic 

Ivish 

Iroquois 

Isubu 

Italian 

Jagataic 
Japanese 
Javanese 
Jeniaitic 

_o 

*£>    H 

,o  ca 
cs  a 
MM 

1    1— 1  'M      1    CO-*  »0!0  1> 
1>  1*-        1^  *>  £~  1--  1> 

1     rH   rH      '     r-l   1— 1   r-l   r-l   rH 

CO  Ol 
rH  rH 

O 

2 

■     H   N   WrflO 

00  00  00  CO  GO 

1    rH  rH  rH  rH  rH 

CO  t^  00     1 

00  CO  00 
rH   rH   rH       ' 

0  0 

00  05 

APPENDIX. 


321 


d 

-i 

rusaiONM 

ootco 

■»?  «D  t»i 

010^KMS<C'?0000 

a1 

(N 

m  o  x  n  »  i> 

OC3J5 

QMCO 

fflNN^OOeONOOOO 

Bh 

-H 

rH  rH            rH 

rH   rH 

^H   ^H 

1-1  i-H 

=      .a 

79    ilC  be  bC  bO  be 

be  be  bb 

a  be  od 

be -3  'g  bb  be  be  SuCq  be  bb  be  be 

i.       a. 

7. 

Ph  Ph  <i  <<  ■<  <J  <! 



<<< 

rH-S<rH 

^pHpu<J<)<l<I1p-i<l-<<l<l 

:     :ts 
a 
08 

lit 

■  -    63 

■  -^ 

"oJ 

:    :    .    .    -  u 

^ 

-a 

eS 

•^  •   -  3   - 

IS              .    w 

Is"  f 

c3 
.      .    U 

.     -     .   <5>  ro     ■ 

a                    # 

'1    :    :    :    :  H 

„• 

■jfe,  -    ■  g    " 

—    -   be 

P. 

gU  g 

6                   2 

cS 

c3 

D 

o 

: 

a          ca 

.  a 

:f   :    :|    : 

1^ 

a  r* 

:     :  a 

^^      'Sop 

^    ■  a  .£  o    • 
-g    •  a  ^3  ^ 

o      ^^^ 

rrt    :     .     •     •  ° 

1  'J  '  "5 

J 

£ 

. 

:  sf    :    :  w    : 

o  gi-H 

.      .    C 

^■^^5  be  o 

a  ^a  ^S  2  ja    : 

-       •          0 
03    ;           j*  *" 

•  ^3      •      -    O      • 

-      ■    u 

"S      -  °     •*»    C3    O 

; 

-•  S  J  J  5  ~ 

.-  — ■    V 

^  --a. 

a 

^2 

^     ^j        a  a> 

o      ^  .2  —  "5 
rj3       '— '  'C  "S  :*3 

a     .   2.2    S  ~ 

«     :  §-^  ^   •' 

- 

s.   -   -  a  T-   - 

o   d  -^    a  -a    rt 
O    2    P  l2  -o  f2 

- 

B^5«.«0 

O    0  .2 

x    ;f.  ■/ 

oa  -  S  a  2  - 

-S  a   H  a  d  a 

O 

c3    c3    » 

b   «  O   eg  pj   9 

O    o  .9    rt    O    c3 

co  m  =:  dc  M  X  x 

0=5Ph 

Mq<i 

■<  Pi  J25  O  C^Eh  aoQ^NON 

:    :    :    -'=>  - 

:   fl     : 

•  a    - 

'■£   ■   ■   -^v  : 

a 

bo    '     '     '  a, 

a  a>       o 

- 

'rt 

bo 

.a              a 

at 

ID 

M             S 
o    ■    :    :  » o 

z. 

-  o       be 

:  "5   >>   :         : 

O 

.a  j:  ^a  -a 

-       •     O     O     O     t) 

0 

-5 
c 

1 

0 
•a 
"5 

0} 

■  be  §    •  = 

-.  x       g 
=11     :J    : 

—    "-    r        w 

2  = 

u 

a 

c 

■J 
i 
i 

'    || 

'I     1     B 

—  5  ■-  3 

&  i  ^  s 

3" 

u     . 

.2  2    : 

=    _    o 

ill 

— 
0 

- 

s  H"  a        °  a 
Eh  P  P  cl.  3:  Lm 

P  •**  *g    H  -^  ^ 
—    T     O           ~    " 

-11 3w3 

a   a  5   ca 

, —          ^    t.    w    G 
^       *    CP    <g    <P    01 

' — "2  on   m  to  In 

-  .2   a   a   a   a 

a 

g  o   o  ■<  -  - 

z    ~    -  < 

S  -  a, 

-- 

s   c    ~   -  -  c 

a   a   a   r   a   a 

-    -    a  _:    '    - 

0 

■-  =  ?■■- 

h0« 

a  °  a  s   a   a 

P  -  '-  —  X  <  -  < 

- 
X 

BOptO 

b  <s  a 

."   =    a  ^   r  .-    -    -    a   -   S   a 

o 

:::©:: 

...  .2 

:     :     :  3 

:  ^     : 

2 

g 
.    .    .  c     •    - 

:    :  j    : 

a 

1 

i-T..«. 

^        P, 

•fi   1 

0 

a       2 

■• 

'-     ■ 

--  j   g 

:   :   s   j^   : 

& 
a 

a 

D8    _,    o 

<     <     1    .a 

2      gill 

1 

a    -    a    a    -    a 

- 

1  3  3  9 

-  a  s 

Ed 

ja  .a  .a 

MMMMMMMMWMMMWWMMMMMMMMWWWWMSS 

HMfflJiOffllj 

r.  .. 

| 

| 

—  :  i     -    --    . - 

-  -    : 

-  :i  ::  —  •:   x 

—  —  —  —  _i  ,_■ 

—  —  - 1 

.  i   :  i    .101 

"  I  t  i  t  i   .  i     i  :  i  :  i  :  i  :  i  j  i  ?  i  r  i 

322 


APPENDIX. 


OO^st^X><»T7<'f<QOOOD-f<»000»0^f<0-*QOCOT}(t>-0  1^kOCO        10  00 

(OfflNOtOtDNNl^fflOlMnt-WNOJNlONNOOOOSW  H  CO 

,-i  1-HrH  Hrl  r— I   i— I  i-d  i-H  CM   rd   CM   r-l  rH  i-d   CM 


ic  sCo  &o  be  be-©  'S  be  be  bp^  be  be  bc3  bo^  be  be^  a  be  a  be  be 
^<^pH<^<|<5^pH^<1<qpH<q<q<lfL|<lpH-q<JpH>-i<qt--i<i-< 


a 
:1 


a^ 


=«  o      s  __  ^  -ft. 


-w   >-» 

,o 

.  .ss 

:  qq 

O  o 

O 

.2     02 

-   m 

:  o3 

CD 

'  ,g    ' 

sippi 
d  Gra 
ia,  we 

o  g  §  co  a 

0?  a  rp  £  S 
a  cs  cs . ;  iS 


.,     <D     ^     S     *r   S     m     m     Sr, -r3     5  r-     m  rH 


a  q-i 
^  o 

°  _ . 


£p 


p. 3 

o    g 

co  O 


MP 


a  -5 
o  x 
cow 


£  2 


h   2   a 

To  m 

t3  rP  ^3 
u  u  bP 


a 

•  <D 

•  a 


k'5 


plMoo^m^oMMn      PCD 


<S* 


oo    •  JitM  •    •    •    ■  a    •    •    • 

c3    CO           9     g                                r* 

a      p 

^    n,ffl    cs                             -° 

t>>-3       be 
:p  P       a> 

S   3   o   «   co          ■     -     •  §          :     : 

CO     o           -»J 

q-i  .p          d 

a  (Eastei 
u  (Eastei 
ornian  gi 
ralian  (E 
ralian  (E 
an  group 
pendent, 
assified . . 
idian 
u  (Weste 
an  group 
assified  . 
Arctic    . 

idian 

Arctic 

nquin 

o-Alta 

ilache 

pendei 

idian 

?     '    O-;    S   cs    ' 
PcO<jP<4PH 

:  o 


4J  5  o  9 


p   es 


S  ^  23  i-h  -3  B 


a     <t} 

a>   I    7 

P^P 


P  <d    ei 
co     ■    O 

t>>^2  a 

!h  a  cs 
<3  co  O 


J  ^  .P 

s-i  a. 


©  P 
2  2° 

*S3      r  P 


o'o'o'oooooooooo 


Si  .»    A  T^    <D    5§    • 

ox}  co  c*  a  *~<  cr3  d 
^  i  t>  §  a  is  .73 .2 
sanscaap^aa 

CM  CM  CM   -M   01   CM  CM  CM  CM   CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM  CM 


m< 


O  .P 
dO-  n3 

03  C3 
PP 


05  ■* 
CM  CM 


APPENDIX. 


323 


9 

bo 

— 

00        MOO 

co      oon 

ooocowhomojio 
nhhjihnhn 

00  O         ICO         Q0OU)         <M 
tOM          00  OS          C3  O  00          05 

00 

Form 

of 

Speech. 

fcb      tlb  sb  a 

^  d'  &£"o  d"  &p  d  d  d 

«q  1— 1  <J   1,  H   <j  - IHh 1 

icg       a  &o      d^od       d 

<ji— i        hh«j^        HH  <J  t— t        t— 1 

60 

< 

a 

o 
M 

o 
c 

X 
V 

- 

i 

The  Ladrones     ... 

North-east  of  Siberia    ... 
Senegambia       ...         ...         ... 

South  of  Franco 

Lapland  ... 

Latium  and  Western  Empire  (extinct) 

Lazistan,  Turkey  in  Asia 

New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania 

Lesbos  (extinct) 

Daghestan 

North   Courland,  South   Livonia,  Riga 

Barbary  States  ... 

Belgium  (cast)  ... 

Loyalty  Islands ... 
Limousin,  south  of  France 

North.east  Prussia,  Baltic  Provinces.. 
North.east  corner  of  Courland 

Lombardy 

West  Africa,  about  22°  S.  lat 

North.east  Prussia,  Baltic  Provinces.. 

Lycia,  Asia  Minor  (extinct)     ... 

ei 

o 

o 
M 

a 

o 

m 

a 
o 

o 

3 

2 

S 
— 

1 

Malayo-Polynesian-  Malaj 

See  Ingush. 

Cralo-Altaic — Tungns 

African  Negro  (Mandegronp) 

An  an      Neo-Latin  ... 

See  Frenoh. 

1  rale- Altaic-  -Finnic 

Aryan      Italic 

Caucasian  (southern) 

Algonquin  family     ... 

Aryan    -Hellenic,  ./Folic     ... 

Caucasian  (north)    ... 

Aryan  —  Lettic 

Hamitic  (Western  division) 

Aryan      Neo-Latin,  Wallon 

Malayo » Polynesian  —  Mela- 

nesian 
Aryan — Neo-Latin  ... 
Si  B  Kuthenian. 
Aryan — Lettic 
Uralo-  Altaic — Finnic 
Akin  to  Mosgu,  which  see. 
Aryan  — Neo-Latin  ... 
Bantu  (Western  branch)    ... 
Aryan — Lettic 
See  Sorbian. 
Aryan — Hellenic?  ... 

o 

td 

'cc 
m 

O 

s 

p 

1 

p 
bo 

o  p 

|  §  il  ||s| |  f-g  fa  --la 

Limousin 

Little  Russian 

Lithuanian  ... 

Livonian 

Logoue 

Lombard 

Londa 

Low  Lithuanian     . 

Lusatian 

Lycian 

U 

—       -  —  - 

-  :  i  ■'.  —  •-■-   i  -  / 
—'.■-■                          il  lO  o 
NNNNNNNNNM 

o    i  o  h  :i  n  •*  io    .  o 
iO       co  o  »  o  o  o       o 
?i    '  ?i  -ri  n  ?i  ?i  ~i    '   ~i 

CO 

Y    2 


324 


APPENDIX. 


o 

(MOO        •*  ©         000000         GO©-fi-t<COCDCDOOC0""f< 

oo  oo  ■*       oo  i-i  -f<  tj< 

c3 

-J1  CD       O3C0       cd  tc  .i>      to  t^  cm  co  ©  >o  io  co  »o  -^ 
eg                                                    ■ — i  i—i       i — i                      cm 

^H               iH  rH  rH 

d  bb      be  bb      bb  bo  bb      bb  p'o  to  be  bb  bo  bo  bo  o' 

hH  <j           ■*)  <j          <j  <|  <j           <j  t-l  ft  i_i  <1  «<  <.  <i  <1  ^ 

bb  a  bJD      bb'B  "3  ^ 

o  o  <a 

^HH-Jj           ^ftp^ft 

:  es    :         ::::::  jj    ::    : 

■a        *                         s 

:    :    :        :    :    :    : 

-5        1                           p 

:    :         :m         : 3    :         :    :    :    :    :    :6    :    :    : 

:    :    :         :    :    :    : 

■  2        -™ u    '    '    ' 

S 

rs             «4-i                                              a> 

o 
ft 

05 

.5                      ch                                                                     ©    £V 

i    ;        E°        :1    :        E    :    :    :    E-SP    E    E    E 

0> 

rl                  »                                                     in  'tn 

to^3            2            &           «                    ^"i^ 

i>hh               -            2P  2       "m                        „  d  m 
-^  ^        .2       ^  -3  §      h    .    .    .ces»      ,gH 
H2         :&      ^O       cs    :    :    "SIS"0  2^  £ 

"rS                           £      £                 bf)    °      5                                      C                 U«      O      h      ^-H 

p  -*_>        pn       ^  ^  "~;        '"^^'HSfld^fli' 

p    p            pO           CO    C3    P           q    to    <S>    r;    CP    q    c    ^    Q*  ""j^ 

TO             TO       . 

t3  ^  d       M  ij 

fl  a  d       2  <b    -    : 

^m.5       %?■    ■    ■ 

N   Sg       g  §  J  g 

^     TO     ©            ©     TO     o     M 

as  t®  -d       .fi  ^  .  0  ^ 

,— v*--v         •— s 

(^   •    :  ^  ^   •    :    :    : 

•(>>       ••       >>  >~>   '  'Tt s  s  >>  d    " 

"o            cs,ro 

ft 

o 

v. 

'1        3  cs                    a       o           Mas    1   fl 
fld       §3       dd       s       sh           a  ^  d  fl  d 

•K    cS        .S  ^2          e8    cS        .2          bJD               3  £j  ^    cS  u 

g  ft-       :2  "S        ft^       ~          g  *         s2    bb  bC>>  bC^ 
^ft.ftrJ^ftftS^^S       ft  £  £  Ph  £  ^ 

1:    ;:Sf    |     :::: 

13 

•53           .3-53        >>  § 

s 

>> 

a 

d    0  §  d    g  a  : 

Ph       ^  p°  Ph       .2  £  & 

:  «   1   a  ;  3  E  a  » 
odioocScr'GjTO 
>-.'to    3    ^  t>s'5!    d    ft  c3 
cSaj^cScSmOGjT! 

p=i 

3  ^S  i  3  H  ^  fc-g  jfr'g  :§  £  g  6  g  g  fc»  g  | 

d 

cS 

'd 

.       .       .            03       .       . 

g 

TO             TO 

^       5-2       J      Jo              ,2  c       &  S 

|ll,y  11^11  lilllllsa 

O     CS             f3 

.^     pj     TO           ^             CS 

^  d  2       2      ^ 
"n       itj.iS  a1       m  <?  'S 

rtcic;c;crt-c;rtci         ciScScSciScScScS 

CS          cS    cS    cS          cS    cS    cS 

^s^sssss^^    s^s^rtS^sg 

g        NSS        S^^ 

**H* 

OOOi     i    O  i-(     i    M  TO  ^  W        (B  t>00  ffl  O  i-i  S  »  ■* 

lO         CD  t^  00          05  O  i-l 

«£ 

OtD         t-~t-         X>i^.t>M-         X>-l^t^l-CC000000O0O0          000000          00G5O3 

(M(M      '    N  N      '    NNNN          NNNMNNNN« 

<N         <N  CN  (N         CN  C-l  CM 

APPENDIX. 


325 


o 

00tCrJ-7iHGCHO-TlNHHTf(rtlfl'7lOO30 

O  -*  00  00  •>? 

CO 

% 

i>10«N 

e5U5«nNHnMM30?10!l»lO 

wainiow 

Ph 

r-(   i-H    1-H   rH 

rH          ,_(  rH  rH  <M  rH  t-l  rH          HH          rH 

"3  sic-3  si's  a'  "3  0  "3  bi  ^3  &b  a  si 

be  p  bb  Sd"o 

o  -  © 

1—1  r~'  P-  Ph 

?.<z,<^*^^^<<Z-<,-{< 

<!j  t-i  <|  •<  Ph 

1— 1 

%                          ^s                                           * 

_•               •  2         «a          a      -a 
.  £;    .    .    .  0  a    .    .  •«    .    .  ei    .0 

*>                £  g            g,          M       M 

■a                   .55  s —             0                          * 

a               -S^           g           £      J 

-O        .        .        .     P  r?        ■        ■     >        ■        ■     O  /— ^ 
.0       -      -       -     -    a       •       ;    jj       ;       :—  -u  im 

:    :    :  a 

5 

o 

X 

o 

:    :    :    : 

a 

CD 

.         .         .    r^          . 
■         -         •'    08         • 

o 

.9    :    :    : 

"3 

CD 

:  .SP  :  -J    :  a  £  .£    :  §><£    :  M  § 

t     s     §. j g     kS     ^ .3  oa- 
cD      5      -a  ^ v —      ol      o^.H 

<»  0  .2  .2 

0 

_a 

•^•-H    :22  s    :^^      "2  ca  «h 

•   a  ^   u   m 

c3 

r  <  -r    5 

o  -^  5s  Sao-*  a>  i!  a   a  -*  x£ft:  aS  -a  -a. 

■  -■/;>  =  ^opr'aaas^=aaa 

0    •-     •    cS    ^ 
it  Oj  —    -    0 

3   £  a   a   s 

c3 

5gS« 

-=«o-ao^&,33rt-rtcsoo 

,9  0  0   0  0 

^a 

z  _/;?HS3Po5QfflSos-/.u 

M  J  tc  O  1-1 

0 

"S 

•    •    ■  "0 

a 

a. 

o 

14     -     -     - 

it    :    :     : 

•  -3     -a a  bo   ■  -a  0  'd 

0 

a     :    :    :    - 

3    •    •    •    ■ 

p 

as       — 

a    -    >,  - 

0       -                        a  p       a  u  0 

Hill    -\>ri  -^  g«?|"i 

B  a  H  c     ■   a  ra   a     •            t,       —   a 
£  '3  «g  M  _  =  I  «g  -  0  5   -'•  i  2  "3 

-°                   ft 

a 

— 

-   bx  -  •  '  - 

a 

a                s 

So  ;     g 

0  -a  —   S"  ^ 
-   a   0  3  0 

e  *7  S  -  — 

a 

~  ~  "*•   -    - 

.9  p  .2  =  -  —  -  •=  -  -  a:   S  S  v-''-) 

0 

- 

5  :l  f  1"  L 

3    I    g,.a  0    |  .S  B,'«  <  <  a  <<  0    1 
~  '    ~  /.    /.    '    -    -    /.     .     .    G    ,  •—   JL 

apa-^^^a^i^.^o.^g 

3 

C    1       ;/.     Q     0 

a   a   i   -  -^' 

.2     N 

a -3 

o  a  6  u— 

'-  x:    B  T3  fl 

7.   _'/.<   — 

<j^-<jop<clfl-«jpppop  dc  a 

1 

CO 

=  c-  5  3  S 

pq  -;  p  35  <! 

a  s> 

1 

0 

•-     _     3 

0 : 

9    e            5    |.s 

0 

a 

V. 

ail  |  =  2 

vP=        ^^a        _-a        =_ 

«  2  J^  6  ^  ^       a  P  -n '?  2  d  * 

a   re    -  .a   0 

a  a 
S  g 

-a    3    =    3    M 

S  *s  □   -'  >-  "a  —  —  ^4  ^   r   a   -   '/•   '/. 

- 
: 

OS  9  E    ' 
a.  a   a  2   3 

d  c3 

,-.  pa  ^.  pa.  '-• 

~  P-  P7.  <-.  ".  f.  "P.  r»,  r-.  r-.  P^.  P1!  P1!  P1!  P1!  S  ^  P-l  P1!  ~.  P% 

fe» 

_'• 

;  1  -  /   r.  -  p-<  oj  oc  —.-.v.  1  -  /■  no 

—    71    7-.    —    •". 

'-     , 

rH  f- 1  1— 1  i-H  1— 1 

1-1 

-.i  :  i  :  i  :  i 

.1  .1  NNncoconcon 

a  a  ?t  rc  co 

CO     ' 

326 


APPENDIX. 


CM  ,-H    i-H    i-H    rH   t-I    r-H    IM  H   N    IN 


be  p  bo1©  o  o  s 
■<  i-i<!  pn  Ph  P-i  hi 


"o  p  be  be  p"  a  a  be 

ftH<;<;HHH<i; 


be  6o      be      a 


o  o   o  o 
P-i  Ph  Ph  Ph 


RQ 


"Htw    4) 


B    :  b      — 


M  OQ  "" 

.    (D  'S      „  B 

ro  _<  r=  a  a 

b  p  a  ^  a  lb 

B.    B  £    B  a    - 


,H     ^q 


p  i"  s  o  IS  >  a  a  B  b:  B  -3  G  a  G  »< 
do)SflSS<j©o5oii!OoO& 


&&    -3      3 


Ph 

•- 

.a 

X 

M 

c3 

'5 

u 

o 

a 

g 

^ 

m 

r- 

o 

- 

~ 

o 

• 

£h£* 

'Z 

£ 

1 

>~ 

Szjjzi 

- 

«H 

O 

o 

CB.B 

Hi 

- 

C5 

Ph  CQ  02  CQ 

0>    B 


•  o 


bc£   g<~ 


bD 


H  3 


-    o1 

o  v-/ 

b£  P 


be  be 
m    do 


■  tz.   a   o 
be<}    |  ^-^ 

B    A    B    B    B 

a  ,2  a  a  a 
W<1«<3«<Ph«1<!P<<p;P<1<!«;£«1      p      p  o5  <j  d5  m  O  <1  £  £ 


!    §    B  ' 

tf.s  Sr 


y. 

O 

a 

_o 

'a 

- 

X 

— 

- 

■- 

o 

1 

B 

be 

,3 
O 

2 

o  .B 

- 

o 

t» 

<D 

o 

*&&& 


=?  i.^ 


g£ 


a 

a  n 

CT  fj 

be  o 

«  H  r 

■.    B^B 

at    O    ^ 


.   _,   h   o   g   5-1 
a  ,ce  a  a  a  a  o 


a  b  s  a.B  g 
-'B  rq  -a   B   B   P 
.  ST~S  "o  ir.  ;"  o  E  c  s  5 


r2  ITJ  I 


be 

Br2 


oooooooco 


H  r^  H  J)  N  Cl  W  N  <M  (N  N  IN  N  n  a  m  a 

BanwrnnMncownosanana 


bX»Q 

cc  co  oq  -* 

CO  O?   00  00 


APPENDIX. 


327 


ao      Nor.i:-- 

rH  O   ~.   X    DO   M    M 


•M  X  -  -J  lO  ■? 
~ .  EC  N  CO  O  M 
i—l  i—l  !N  i— I 


~  —  r: 

»T5  IM  Ci 


Ph  Ph 


a  tb  sic  ii  3  "3 

M  ^  <-<  <<  p^  2_, 


-3    bb 


M   ^    ^   <    HI    Ch 


■«a 


M 


£ 

"S<«5I 

X 

g«J 

d 

*  -I x  - 

Q 

3  o  d  ° 

d    - 

-  p 

-  - 

a 

lllj 

OS    CD  i^,  — 

o  m  p  /. 

0    - 

e3 

cc  O 

O 

aaC? 


Z  -3         DQ    O    <B 

cS 

^  -       a  .2  ta 

£ 

d     :    £    M  DQ 

ea    M       •-    - 

r^i 

fl    0          P  WP 

?  1  S  -  .5  § 

OQ 

bo  d  9  >   »   x 

,5  3  o  ®  » i? 

3  Ph  x  {25  Ph  ^ 

B 

1=1 


3  ? 


CO  —    eg 


b  ~       dfa,5"S 


•=  -          >1 

—  2         a 

X' 

a     -1  1        i  :  1 

IjA.i 

■■"-"-- 

-S  |  3  3  g  1  '3 

I^sl-ai 

_    r    _     .'     ?  3   a  0 

-  • 

Sjjsj 

1 

8  §  §  g  E" 

<  /.<_;_  x  p  <| 

X 

/-  -  <  x  < 

i    -    w    —    - 


to 

Ph 

= 

"3 


o 


:  J  o  g    ! 

•  -     ^     d   'rt 


isglsagJagH 

"~    =  "=    b  a    r    =    9  '-  —    8 


SPl 


w    3    5  «*-    -    - 

:  -  /.  ~  v.  <;  o  P 


:::::::   :'fl    : 

a 

9 

a  d         ^ 

-  -    es  J£  ^A  X.  '~ 

DOOOOOOOOC 


;  c 


—  :i 


-  /    -. 


—        -  -  -  -  1  - 
t~   rt  OQ 


=  -T;j 


2  J: 

r. 
- 


O    CI 


'Ph 


O  _| 


•r  „  s  .a 


:  ~^-7  =  z-^-z^z 

iddcscaacscsCDOCDaJcs 
PhPhPhPhPhPhPhPhPhPhPhPh 


-   —        - 1  : :  —  i  -  -i  i  -       op    , 

1/5  in  W  1(5  115  1(3  irt  lO  tO  CD 


3)Oh 


»  eo    '  eo    '  co  «  co 


328 


APPENDIX. 


c 
to 

Offl^smaoN^HOiM       ©  <m  co 

OOtCffln03(OW(DMJ>         'HH  OS  CO 

kO 

CD 

oo 

00  00 

(M 

CO 

cq  <M 

fc» 

CD  CO 

CU 

N  N  H  fl  N  N         H  N  N(M         (Mi— 1  <N 

i-H 

1—1 

rH  r-l 

<M 

g      J 

"•""o  " 

c  a'  a'  a  d  a'  ^"o  a'  a'  a'       a'  a'  a 

a 

O    O 

bD 

to  a* 

1— lh IHI- 1|— (hH<;a1hH>— ••- '           1— 1  1— 1  h-t 

Ph 

M 

PhPh 

«j 

<t)l-H 

«8        ,— v 

:  ; 

...........    0      .    0      . 

O 

o        ^        © 

M 

•  - 

a 

'1     '1     '1     ' 

0 

0 

a    ..:::::  =    :  0    :  ^t    : 

=9 

S     : 
IS 

H 

J        ! 

"o     ' 

0 

:    : 

ersia  (west)  (extinct 
ersia,  Afghanistan,  ] 
lioenicia... 
sia  Minor  (extinct) 
icardy   ... 
[edmont 
neonsland 
onora     ... 
orth  Germany... 
anks  of  the  Upper  E 
oland 

ortugal,  Brazil,  Goa, 
Africa  ... 

ulia,  north  of  the  Ne 
outh  of  Prance 

© 
p. 

CO 

60 

-a 

O 

0 
bo  : 

'© 

a 
0 

c? 

rP          - 

08 

13    . 
0    . 

q-i 
53 

I-1   w 

^ 

<rr 

m 

0 

0 

4J    ci 
^    0 

0  a 

c= 

x/i  a 
^>  0 
0  .3 

Ph  Ph  Ph  «5  P-i  Ph  C?lG  K  Ph  P-i  P-i      hK 

fe 

fct" 

O 

OO 

bjD 

•  a 


e3 


c3    cS 


J3  * 
^  1=1 

=3  ,"*    <C    ©    ©    _ 


g  5  ,3  ,5  ® 

cp  Eh  m  vj  (s 


O        ;3    o    co 


Sfc, 


a-caaag^aa  =  3 
a  >-»  a  >■»  £■>  >>  2  2  >>&*»>>>-» 


ca  -  o 

>->  >>  o 

<3  <  02 


m  =  -= 


S^S, 


3  s  5 

c-  0  ,P 

0       0 

p  Ph         & 

cS     >    P     j 

eS    bJC  0 

P    O    13     1 

~T.^ 

r  ^'s  a 

p-    C3    (D    CO 

S3    ^>  0 

<-JScc 

OS   .  <! 

^ 

<£       : 

:    :  ©    : 

O 

EC 

CO 

a  a 

^  cS 

a       "S  — 1 

p 

"co 

03 

a  0 

£  3 

0  -a 

"hrygia 
icardy 
icdmoi 
ikunbu 

'ima 

latt-De 

olabish 

| 

2*8  © 

-  .2  j 

©mo 


PhPhPhPhPhPhPhPhChPhPhPh        Ph  Ph  fL,  Pm  £  Ph  Ph        CCC 


NM^IOCMKOOHNB 
CD  CD  CD  CD  CO  CO  CD  CD  1-  J>  i^  1~- 

nBWMCOOJWMMWCOM 


CO  CO 


co 


00  OS 
CO  CO 


M  p T  w 

.§.8  o 

ce  cs  -a 

PhPh  Ph 


O  -f 
00  00 

CO  CO 


APPENDIX. 


329 


oi 

oo  o 

r 

O   -N 

-*  O  i-l 

00  35 

O  00 

oo  o  o  o 

r-t   O 

jg> 

1-  1- 

NQ0CO 

■■D  00 

C3  CO 

CO  O  S3  O  CO  O 

Ph 

N  eq 

CM 

CM  <M 

i-H  i-H  r-l 

rH  OJ 

f-H 

^H 

s  4 

r. 

d  a 

d 

d  d 

15  =  3 

bb  bb 

a'  d 

i— i »— i 

:  bb  bb  60*0  bb 

•<5  <5  <J  Ph  <| 

;  t4 

■p 

:  _d 
■  "on 

d 

Ki 

W 

be 

^ 

3 

^j 

a 

M 

ci 

=4H 

■  n 

•  xi 

a     : 

'05    a      " 

_a 

d 

c3 

0 

3 

QQ 

<1 

*s  a 

:  d 

J     : 

o 

a 

c3 

£  S 

a 

d 

rt^ 

M 

■£ 

d 

a 

T3 

a 

o      ^ 

u 

a 

T 

o 

u 

r  ^ 

of 

bo 

:  ° 
o 

r?       : 

3 

:  cm  ^     : 

T<    ' 

- 

o 

:  H 
O 

.    d     . 

*CQ 

o 

m 
d 

o 

o 

-  -= 

Q 

-    <D    O       • 

3     : 

d 

k> 

■  oa 

o   c2 

CO 

a 
o 

73 

.2    .- 

.  ^2       - 

a  o 
o 

m 
OB 

oa 

d 

s  ° 

So  a 
o 

o  3 

-a    . 

3  J, 
a  .S 

-  a 

..§.21 

co    c3 

=«  a 

O    C3 

|  g 

CfJ     ^ 

a 

oa  m 

.3  r3 
T3    H 

a  a  ^ 

-     - 

d 

a  <s 

-  o  o  o 

K  «*-.  w 

?H  03 

O^O 

02 

1=1 

:  02  02  HH  02  02 

, 

_ 

.  ^^ 

^^ 

d 

o 

3 

2 

p 

p 

:  So    : 

CM 

| 

a 

OS 

rf  o  «  fl 

a  a  a  S 

O 

bo 

'•    ft 
•  ^ 

'3 

i. 

■z 

^ 

^ 

.a  .a 

3 

o  o 

a 

a 

_a 

a 
o 

^     C3     C3     ^J 

°  a  i;  -° 

■a 

| 

3 

0 

: 

d  dd 

-  -:-: 

dec 

E     -     - 
X.  X.  X 

99 

= 

I 

'- 

c   3 

r5 

J  8 

:.§! 

•  —    r-. 
—    _  -_ 

o  W   - 
fa  """•= 
a  o  EL 

-  ■-   - 

2 

o 

3 

^  "a 
go 

0! 

n 

9   o 

1  1 

a  a 

gj    93 

H 

03 

O 

"So  • 

a  d 

^  s 

m 

0 

ft 

8  j"  B  | 

2  "S  "5  "i 

goow 

So" '  _,   1 
o  d  a  a 

f! 

■a  a 

§-1 

'- 
00 

u '  i-    —    -^    -    — 
" '   "/.  <  < 

I    - 

9     0 

/.  /. 

C  =  < 

S3 

•7.  r- 

0) 

- 

<< 

O 
0Q 

0) 

o 
/. 

^  pq  _.  „ 

0 

'3 

- 

3  3 

M 

/.    d 

- 

d 

a 

d  O.ri 

0 

§  a 

o 

8 

o 

a 

g  a 
11 

a 
o 

9j 

a 

d 

.§  i'g, 

J.3^  rt 

2  9 
o  3 

i  s 

i 

'  X  X.  X.  M. 

a 

E 

1  c 

X 

o9 

>.  o  ~   a 

a  S 

q 

1   3 

" 

3  a 

o9    s    d 

a  a 

gj 

i 

a    a 

99 

u 

•j   o    o    cu 

Ov    o 

MMM 

~ 

- 

MM 

1    J    1    1    1    J    1 

//.//. 

Ol  CC  03  Ol  02  CC  02 

o  p>  C 

i  *-• 

:i 

/    /    / 

1 

1 

a 

CI 

-.  r.  ..  --  z.  - 

1     CO 

CO 

. 

CO   CO   CO   CO 

CO  -f 

330 


APPENDIX. 


00  <M  GO  -*  O  t>  o 

Ui  Tfl  CO  C5  CO  CO  Gi 


-rOOri  cs  w  WS  Gi  CO 
t>  1^  00  IN  tffl  — <  -t^-  CO  CO 
<N  N  rH  i-l       1— I   IN   IN  i-H 


<5  n 


to  bD        be  oo    a    a   ko  cc  b£ 

<1<5      -<  m  M  ,-h  <: -3  << 


aaa.: 


too 

p     <;ph 


bo 

<1 


P   be 


o     „ 


3     ,2 


a 

CO 

hfl 

CO 

- 

o 

M 

:  a 

•-  <* 


"<    -  <  5 

cg-|  cS 

a  C  ~5  co 

O    O  O    c3 

co  co  co  3 


•*  ^^  a  2 

^     rt     ^  O     S     O  A 


.3.3   a? 


c3     -  ^    2 


g  j-  a  a  b£^  £ 
S  O  CO  CO  ^       Ph 


K  3 


3P 


5 


:^ 


fe 


-  .3 


a  bo 

;  I  §  *H  b 

£  CO  _g  _£    o 
>>  O    Pi    c3  -2 

H    »    03  >«!-. 

■4  co  P  &  <j 


o  a> 


£.2.2  ft 


:   CO 


a  o 

ft  a  I 
a  o  ' 
5  ftS 
b  B  SL  s 


d 


p    o 


bfi 


.O    c3    c3  rvt  ^  ^ 

~  ' — 1  1 — <  M    o    ID 

CO  CO  >— 'tfl  c£ 


CB    o  'cS 
g:  ca  ^ 

^'li^i  I  !  -s "S  a 

5  £  £  <;  O    ~    ;;:ii 
g§c3oo^>>g22 

,q<!<Jpq^tDcox<;<ISP^ 


P    < 


g  2,11:2 


!? 


0 

.5  a 


rfl     ° 


<S 


H  s  o  e  cj 
H  cs  o  a>  Jh 
"1  Q  CO  CO  t> 


fcn 

■~ 

- 

0 

- 

0 

- 

^ 

c 

> 

is 

CJ 

V 

0 

— 

CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO 

e3 


o  a 


B    cS 


tc 


5  <s  fe  .2  «  S 


p«  a 


c3  :- 


5  2 
.3  .2  .3  .2  .9  .UM  ,3 ,2  ^ 

X  X  X  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO  CO 


a 
.5  S  -  -  p  .3 

r^n^aa^^a 

ooca^aaaa 
xcococoxxcox 


tf« 


i-H  <n    1  n-?ia 
00       000 


C  N  X O  O  H 
O  O  O  O  .-h  1-1 

Tjt    TTI    T?    Tl    -*    -^ 


iNCO-rtiOCT)        ^3IOOh 

!-<   rH    H    t—    — i  H  H  H   M    N 

TT  TT    TJt  T^t    TJt  ^t   T^    T}t  ^jl   ^ft 


APPENDIX. 


331 


cc  ec  o      go  d      ac  c;  t- 


3       5P  fl"  rt 


be  bo 


5  ="   = 


bc"5  "3  to  to  "3  'o  to  be      tc"~  be 


X  r-l 

i-  i-i 

l-H    <N 


—    =H 

;  a3 

r.   U 

^^ 

00  "S  a" 

00    ^> 

-    a  ■" 

3Q 

•  =    = 

3    I 

~  3   = 

=   a 

|  O 

m«m  g 

—  a 

_^°  3 

br^ 

c3 

«  -  -= 

r    :. 

£ 

~  § 

8    3    C 

a  ? 

>> 

o  o  o 

-/    00  X 

—  X 

X  X.  X. 

"3  5 


1* 
c  .g 


»— '    -»    o         S         °    j,   ° 

-  -  l2  .-  -  -  f-  -=  ° 


» 

to  . 

u  a  P 

ftj 

!^k  ^ 

^H 

-  9 

9  =  8  *  I 

be  o  £  h  I 

-   J:  «j  -  i 


P,  a  £        £        4"       -  -    =-  - 


z   - 

ph;2 


s  - 


£  _  : 


■-  .2    ■ 


oS  G  d 

—  —  ^-. 


-    "  5  S  §  2  5  _ 

-  -  8  -J  :■=  :■=  £  = 

_  d  £J  B  '  o  '  o  _= 


—    —    —    -    9  pS  »S  5    o 


<    - 


JP 

- 

•- 

u 

o 

5 

rt 

-; 

^= 

CS 

-■ 

ft  a 

D 

fe 

- 

d 

- 

H 

- 

o 

a 

X 

1 

93 

= 

i 

> 

«  oj  H  -^ 

:U  o       «  •-  •- 


a    lL    — 
/.    /     / 


H  H  H 


3       Eh  © 

a      .  j 

9  cB    n  -1 

rt  r:    i 


:  i         :  i  :  i  :  i 
_ _ 


u.1   .,        .      W     OJ 
ft  U      I 

Ert  Eh  e«  Eh  Eh 


t«  00  03         S  —  "  i         "   —  ' "-    -   '  -  '    ~  C  —        M  « 


=  L3 


332 


APPENDIX. 


O    O    J) 


ffl»ll^Mt*OOWfflOO« 
rH  (N  i— I  i— I  i— I  rH  (M 


"  iS 


ko'o  a  'o  6c  6c  6c r3  60  6c  6c  a 


•M 


a> 


.s« 


.2  &ba 


Mo   g 


:  o~W 


be ■•£ 


•  d  o 
.    a  5  t»  2 

3  3  s  a  g 
^S3^  I 


^;^«a2^ccPrfo&H  Q^ 


60 
<1 


be  60  60  g  60 

<!  <j  <!  >-i       <) 


:  o 
'  3 


*3  4)        60  0 

r-J 

^gg* 

0> 

1  -s 

.2    d  £    «    O 

-2    ftS    ri    [>, 

"fl    ^    >  .2    d 

flr5      t3      t,    ~ 

a  a 

co<tj  P  <j  g 

t> 

o  S  o  o  ■ 


X 

0 

- 

H 

or 

jS 

60 

tf 

1 

00 

•- 

d 

-1 

p 

<\ 

d 

X 

d 

- 

>• 

O 

rr| 

— 

- 

ti 

a 

fl 

< 

Pfi^^OP 

»    *    fly 

o   4  S 
, — 1  -^   d 

H     0     U 


CO 

Bj 

- 

d 

0) 

~ 

d 

d 

0 

d 

2 

O 

w 

- 

GO 

fl) 

d 

r/i 

-li 

► 

61 

d 

a 

OMH 

1— i 

5        'C 


rO          . 

n  9 

a    ■ 

•fl  r^ 

rd 

.y  ^ 

0    : 

fc  d 

0  .2 

—  d 

d    d 

3    r-r 

-1  r  ^  ^  7  g4! 

P        d   tf   t>i  a)   tf 


«fc 


ttiNMCJOH 
-r  —  -7  —  >-?  ira 

"^  "^  ^f*  "^  ^  ■*sr* 


d 

o   o   d 


d  ^ 
bp.rj  M  J4    Z 


HEH^ribBHhBEnHHH 


Nn^iotONaooHww^i 
1.9  19  10  10  ira  in  in  o  tt  c  <o  <o  (o 

~    "T^    "^    *T^    "^    ""T*   "T*    "T<    ^f<   "*^   TJ<   ***T<   T** 


d  d 

.2  .2  § 

bb.^  s  a  s 


cr  t-  00    1  a 
co  «o  to      o 

—    <CTl    t*       '     ^h 


APPENDIX. 


333 


• 



— 

ec  ac  — 

I>10l0 

O  *--  O  1>-  (M  o  o 

S  CI  O  X  O  -  OS 

to 

ct  * 

91 

u~  re  ?i 

~    BO 

— 

c;  c  J!  c  m  o3  s 

C!»«  lOON  X 

3 

-H  I-l 

•H 

(M  91 

N  -M 

i-l 

l-H  1-H 

a    -i 

(30  0    3 

bb  a" 

d 

si  cc  iL  bi  si:  ti  ti 

be  bi  bic  bb  bb"^'   bb 

1-1       OQ 

^~ 

£ 

<   -   - 

<;  m 

1—1 

<;<^  <C  <;-<<;  <; 

^^^^^p^^ 

o     • 

M     '■ 
■~ 

o 

w    . 

o 

d 

eS  ^ 

:    ;  3 

>,   :    :    : 

CD 

= 

£     33 

cc 

3 

o 

c3    £ 

o 

0 

pi 

a; 

u 

:     :  o 

,d    -    -    . 
cs    :    :    : 

X 

^^     ' 

'5 

e6  _ 

CO 

P 

1c 

o 

?  . 

T3     • 

•*->      , — v 

d      -« 

d            W 

o    •  d 

to      o 
d 
tS    ■  d 

£2    d 

U     OQ 

HI  — 

±  d 

§1 

—    o 

(3 
O 

:    : 

:    :    : 

en 

o            ^ 

^3        *        •     GO 

tc    :    :  d 

cS          o    O 

r. 

1  = 

£  IS 

eel 
6bg 

§  2  2 

oo    9   S 

°  O-S    J, 

.5  .if 

O 

c<-1  ^   - 

■5^5 

O    99    H 

IB     M 

£  .3 

—  — 

CO 

- 

!=    =    ^ 
~  ~s.   - 

«  ®  o 

oa  d 

3  5 

=    :i 

C>     - 
—     ID 

.*  .5  -2 
o  o  o 

■z  rS  rr 

fer    O    fa.    O 

p  1— 1 

XJ1 

^>P 

pq  pq 

£ 

h^5  Z  ^  £?V2 

i-3  2h 

X  X  X  ^  K  ^  CO 

. 

o 

/^^  . 

^    * 

'•  *^>    ■ 

O^     ■ 

^ 

o 

o 

d 

c 

^3 

&  c*-< 

o 

p, 

.     : 

S 

—     : 

3 

-     -L  •_ 

bi  : 

-H  -H 

.2  5r>  : 

:    :    :  >, 

6 

o 
u 

is. 

eS 

y 

£  "S  fe 

fi 

"3  s 

d   d 

'1  1 

a  cs 

H  »2 

•  c 

=  DQ 

I 

o  o 

c  = 



OS 

cfl 

= 

s 
td 

- 

3*5(3 

c3  j   c 
93     S 

d 

- 

III 
o  —  .- 

:.4  d  * 

—  tr. 

=  '^ 

.2 

1   1 
l5  :5 

1    1     : 

:     :  be  | 
5  Tl  ^  — 

ft 

'5 

"3   _   _ 

- 

| 

^-  uz  -r 

<  < 

<<  2 

-:  i  =  -l 

— 

d  d 

/. 

X 

C 

-*    —    t^ 

g  _ 

£  a 

0     C 

6  e4i 

«H  |  i 

—  — 

:-    oa    r; 

£'  £' 

- 

DC 

0 

d 

•- 
< 

<< 

<<< 

V 

7. 

6 

i 

- 

o 

fe 

_ 

'Z 

J  .1 
9  'S 

i     DO 

'8  "5 

5 

■~    0 
't   -  — 

"*'    ~     T 

Z-.  ■■■    tl. 

-j  .a  o 
b=  ==  == 

03    O  "J    £• 

o  "3  c   i 

'J3  fi  cb  _S  So  --  u 

a  .a  .a  *S  if  s  - 

i  3  3  o  p  3  9 

>->>>-  bn  >.  L- 

-  - 

j  i 

r; 

—  .-. 

-■  i  - 

r 

r.  ;  — 

—  1- 

-  i  -  / 
00  op  aO 

Cl  O  —  9) 

1 

'-- 

- 

1  -  1  - 



i  .  i 

--  — 

i  - 

1 

i  -  /    / 

J     S    T.    Z- 

334 


APPENDIX. 


o 

MONNt1  O  -r 

3 

0- 

HOOS   M   —    -M 

<M           <M  r-<  i-l           iH 

a   -8 

°  °  8 

c  &f  c  e"o  M^ 

o 

w 

0 

_ 

©        .9          c3 

:|    :1    :|    : 

N       ce      « 

c?        H         e3~ 

-  2      o    •  2    - 

:  u  -  ce    :  ij    : 

si's  g'fl  =  § 

o  o  3  o  =j  o  o 

3 
o 

O 

T^&      ^ 

3  *g  o  u    :  2    : 

>> 

^  -2   B    C  _  -w  _. 
o   s  c3   "  ^  ">  1R 
[3  s  «  h  2  d  -2 

E=i 

S3    B    S    S3    d    S    c3 

e3  -5    c3    cS  r3  -w  -t! 

>.  S3  >>  >■>  2  S  2 

-<m<!l^ppqp 

ci 

*5 

o"S          ^ 

.-    0      -          ©      .      . 

C    "3     C3    *      O      rj   •-' 

O    S3     N     =     i.—     ~ 

c3    eS    ci    O    C    S    S3 

N  n  s:  n:  s:  s:  s: 

~j    . 

re  —  >G  to  l>  00  cs 

■2Y. 

c.  oa  ~.  c~.  crs  cj  0 

—  -r  -r  -^  ^  T?  *# 

INDEX. 


Abyssinia,  Semitic  languages 

of      

Accadian,  Double   meaning  of 
Accent,  Latin  ... 

.,     Its     influence     on   the 

Xeo-Latin  tongues   ... 

Afghan,  Eastern   Iranian  dia- 

leot 

Agglutination,      Second      lin- 
guistic form  ... 
„     Its  various  kinds 
Albanian,      An      unclassified 
Aryan  tongue 
I  m'.i,  Grammar  of 

American      languages,    Their 
great  number 
„    Their  common  features 
No!  distinct  from  other 
agglutinating  tongues 
,,     Vocabulary  of... 
Amharic,  Akin  to  the  '• 
... 
,,       Tho  term  vindicated 
Annameup,    An     independeni 
language 
,,      An  isolating  idiom     ... 
Anthropoids,      Arrested       in 
their  developmenl    ... 
Arabic,  Group  of  the  B 
family 
,,       Proper,  Its  alphabet  ... 
„       Its  position 
„      Dialects  ><f 
Aran-' 

an,  at  Breton 

.'■  of    ili"    term 

Family   <.f    lai 
Asia  .'• 


170 
140 
222 

229 

207 

44 
45 

293 
131 

123 
125 

127 
l:il 
172 
258 
259 

II 
II 

:;•> 

L66 
L68 
168 
L70 

I :,.-, 
-n; 
188 
lsi 

292 


PAGE 

Asia  Minor,  Greek  spoken  in  214 

„       Turkish  spoken  in...  103 

Assyriam-,  A    Semitic    tongue  157 

Australia,  Languages  of       ...  07 
"  Avesta,"  Sacred  book  of  the 

Zoroastrians  ...          ...  1S8 

,,       The   Huzvuresh   trans- 
lation    203 

Bactrian,  Zend,  So-called      ...  198 

Bantu  group  {African)            ...  59 

Basque,  Limits  of       ...          ...  109 

„       Yielding  to  Spanish   ...  Ill 

„       Isolated  position         ...  113 

„       Oldest  traces  of          ...  114 
,,       Numerous  varieties   of  115 

,,       Phonology  of  ...          ...  11(5 

„       Word  formation  of     ...  116 
„       Incorporates  the  direct 

object...          117 

„       Not      allied      to      the 

American  tongues    ...  119 

„        lis  vocal mlary             ...  120 

,,       Origin  of         ...         ...  121 

Beja  (Bishura),  An    Ethiopian 

dialed          180 

Beluch,  An  Iranian  tongue    ...  207 
/.''  rbi  /•,     1  leneral      nam"     of 

modern  Libyan       ...         ...  179 

81  e  Vsech. 

Burman,  An  isolating  tongue  12 
Buryetic,    Its    importance    in 

r if  Mongol  lti >u  1  >  ...         ...  L06 

Bushman   I"                         ...  51 

A    Kill  K-  idiom          ...  2  16 

■  m,  Limits  of ...         ...  27!) 

[ts  forms    ii.i'iu    pre- 

1  ed           ...        ...  27!' 

Medii  ral  Greek  ...  212 


336 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Cases,    The     three     common 

Semitic  153 

„       The      eight      common 

Aryan  186 

Two  in  the  old  French  232 
Catalonian,  Grouped  with  the 
Langne  d'oc  ...  ...  236 

Caucasus,  Languages  of       ...   136 
Chain" ee,    Its     place     in    the 
Aramean  group       ...  ...   155 

Canaanitic,     Group     of      the 
Semitic  family        ...  ...   160 

Chinese,  Dialects  of  ...  ...     34 

,,       Its     grammar     purely 

syntactic        ...  ...     35 

„       Its  graphic  system     ...     38 
Coptic,  Eepresents  old  Egyp- 
tian ...        ...        ...        ...  177 

Corean,    Agglutinating,      but 
little  known  ...  ...     76 

Cornish,  A  Kymric  dialect    . . .  216 
■Croatian,  See    Servo-Croatian. 
Darian,  Not  yet  finally  classi- 
fied     291 

Banish,  Its  place  in  the  Norse 
group  ...  ...  ...   257 

Danl-ali,  An  Ethiopian  dialect  180 
Bevanagari  alphabet  ...  ...   191 

Bravidian,  Extent  of  its   do- 
main ...         ...         ...     77 

„       Languages       ...  ...     77 

„       Former  limits  of  ...     79 

,,       Simple       grammatical 

system  ...  ...     81 

„       Poverty  of  its  vocabu- 
lary    ...  ...  ...     85 

Patch,  A  Netherlandish  dialect  261 

Egyptian,    A  Hamitic  tongue  175 

,,       Its  grammar    ...  ...   176 

Ehhili,  Alan  to  the  Himyaritic  171 

Elbe,  Slavonic  of  the 280 

Elu,  or  Sinhalese         137 

English,  Different  periods  of  259 

Erse,  Scotch  Gaelic 2  ±5 

Escuara,  Original  name  of  the 
Basque  ...  ...  ...   112 

Ethiopian  group    of   the    Ha- 
mitic tongues  ...  ...   180 

Etruscan,    Different    opinions 

on  irs  origin  ...  ...  290 

5        Belongs    to  the  Aryan 

family  291 


PAOH 

13 


14 

90 

261 

31 

44 
146 
230 


Etymology,  Dangers  of 

,,       Its  true  nature  and  pro- 
vince ... 

Finnic    group    of   the    Uralo- 
Alta'ic  tongues 

Flemish,      A       Netherlandish 
dialect 

Forms,       Threefold,        mono- 
syllabic 
,,       Agglutinating... 
,,        Inflecting 

French,  Formation  of 

,,       Two  classes  of  words  in  230 
„       Two    cases  in   its    old 

declension      ...  ...  232 

„       Dialects  of  old  ...  235 

Friuli,  Eastern  Ladim  ...  238 

Frisic,  A  Low  German  branch  261 

Fulu,    or     Pul,    An     African 
language      ...  ...  ... 

Gaedhelic,  or  Gaelic  branch  of 
the  Keltic     ... 

Galatian,  Old  ... 

Galician,     Akin      to      Portu- 
guese 

Galla,  An  Ethiopian  dialect... 

Gdthds,  Zend  dialect  of  the  ... 

Gaulish,  Ancient 

German,     Characteristics      of 
modern 
Its  orthography 


64 

244 
247 

240 
180 
199 
247 

266 

267 


Gheez,  South  Arabic  group...   171 
Gipsy  dialects...  ...  ...  195 

Glagolitic  alphabet     ...  ...  269 

Gothic,  Its  proper  spelling    ...  254 
,,       Position  of  in  the  Teu- 
tonic family  ...  ...  254 

Ch'eelc   branch   of    the   Aryan 

family  208 

„     Not  to  be  grouped  with 

the  Latin        209 

„     Grammar  ...  ...   210 

„     Dialects  211 

„     Common  dialect  of       ...   212 

„     Bvzantine  212 

„     Modern  212 

,,     Extent  of  modern         ...   213 

,,     Pronunciation  of  ancient  214 

Hamitic  family  ...  ...   174 

„       Inadequate  title  ...   174 

,,       Hypothesis   on  former 

limits  of  ...  ...    171 


INDEX. 


337 


Hamitic  Akin  to  the  Semitic 

family  ...  ...   174 

„       General  Grammar  of...   175 
„       Divided      into      three 

branches        ...  ...  175 

Harari,  Akin  to  Ghees  ...   172 

Hebrew,  Various  periods  of  ...  160 

„       Its  grammar  ...  ...  162 

„       Its  alphabet 163 

High  German,  Three  periods  of  264 

„       Two  kinds  of 267 

Himyaritic,   Member    of    the 
south  Arabic  group  ...   170 

:,  Its  limits  in  medieval 
times  ...  ...  ...   194 

Hindu  group   of    the   Aryan 

tongues  ...         ...  190 

„       Neo- Hindu     languages  193 
„       Phonology  of  ...  ...   190 

Hottentot  language     ...  ...     47 

•resh      version     of     the 

"Avesta"      203 

,,       Aramean  influence   on  204 
,,      Its  grammar   ...         ...  204 

„       Its  alphabet     ...         ...  205 

theory...         ...         ...  121 

'Icelandic,    Its     place    in    the 
Norse  group  ...  ...  256 

Incorporation      differs      from 

polysynthesis  ...   128 

„      In  Basque         ...         ...  119 

,,      In  the  American tongur-    L28 
„      In     the      Uralo-  Altaic 

tongues  ...         ...     97 

Bee   Iryan. 
I  r  finic,        Inadequate 

title  ...  188 

Inscriptions,  Cuneiform,  Lan- 
b    8e<  and 
ii  "f      ...         ...  139 

,,      Assyrian         ...        ...   L57 

„         Persian  200 

ttion,     Importance      of 
in  the  isolating  tongue*    ...     .'J  1 

roup  of  the  Aryan 
family         ...        ...        ...   L95 

Irish,  of   in  Hid 

mp..,         ...  2 1  !• 
,,      Grammas        ...        ...  240 

...   1. 'J  I 
• 
ip  .. 


PAGE 

Italian,  Its  dialects    238 

Japanese,     wrongly      grouped 
with  other  agglutina- 
ting idioms    ...  ...     72 

i,       Grammar         ...  ...     75 

Kabyle,  A  Lib3ran  dialect     ...   179 
Kafir  languages  ...  ...     59 

Kasdo-Scythic,  or  Sumerian  ...   141 
Keltic  group    ...  ...  ...   212 

„       Two  branches  of        ...   244 
Keltomania      ...         ...         ...  250 

Kurdish,  An  Iranian  tongue...  207 
Kutnric,  Branch  of  the  Keltic 
family  ...  ...  . . .  245 

Ladin,  The  three    groups    of  237 
Languages,  The  life  of  ...        8 

„       Mixed  do  not  exist     ...       8 
„       Isolating     and     mono- 

syllabic  ...  ...     31 

„       Original  plurality  of  ...  304 
,,       Affinities   of,  how    de- 
tected  302 

,,       Not     always    identical 

with  race        307 

Latin,  Its   degree  of   affinity 

with  Qreek 217 

„       Old  and  classic  ...  218 

„       Phonology  of  ...  ...   219 

„       Pronunciationof  classic  220 

„       Accent 222 

„       Vulgar,    the  source   of 

the  Romanoe  tongues  22" 
Lettic  group     ...  ...  ...   285 

„      Its  dialects      ...         ...  285 

,,       Distinct  from  Slavon 

Lettish,  Limits  of        2SS 

,,       More       corrupt       than 

...    2SN 

mp  of  t  he  Eamitio 

family          ...         ...         ...  17!' 

Linguistics  distinguished  from 

philolog]        ...         ...  1-7 

„      It  a  real  domain          ...  '-i 

its  dm  in  philology    ...  I" 

f.ititun.          >                    rved  286 

„         Limits   of     '      ... 

,1      Grammar        ...        ...  2^7 

.    272 

:>      ...  ...    2. '.7 

,,      Proper,  or  1  h  261 

1      itian         ...        ...        ...  27"> 


333 


INDEX. 


Lycian,     An      Aryan      idiom 

(Asia  Minor)           ...          ...  292 

Magyar,    Its     importance    in 

the  Finnic  group       ...  94 

,,       Its  limits  and  grammar  95 
Malay  group  of  the  Malayo- 

Polynesian  family  ...          ...  68 

Malayo-Polynesian family  clas- 
sified ...         ...         ...  68 

,,       Their    common    origin  68 
„       Form    an    independent 

system            ...          ...  69 

,,       Grammar  of    ...          ...  70 

Maltese,  Its  Arabic  origin    ...  170 
Man     distinguished     by     the 

faculty  of  speech       ...  18 
„     The   precursor    of,   and 

Philology       30 

Mandchu,   A  member   of  the 

Tungus  group          ...          ...  103 

Manx,  A  Gaedhehc  idiom      ...  244 

Metamorphosis,  Period  of     ...  9 
Mongolian  group  of  the  Finno- 

Alta'ic  tongues         ...          ...  105 

Monosyllabic  languages         ...  31 

,,       Their  grammar            ...  32 

Morphology,  Its  meaning       ...  9 
,,       Cannot  alone  determine 

affinity            ...          ...  14 

Mosarabic,  Of  Arabic  origin...  170 

Neo-Latin  languages  ...          ...  227 

„       Formation  of 227 

,,       Foreign  elements  in  ...  229 

„       Their  seven  groups    ...  229 
„       Play  of  accent  in  their 

formation       ...          ...  230 

Negrite  languages  of  Africa...  51 

Netherlandish ...          ...          ...  261 

Norse,  Ancient            ...         ...  255 

Norwegian,    Its   place  in   the 

Norse  group            ...          ...  256 

Nubian  languages       ...          ...  66 

Oc,  Langue  cl',  Dialects  of    ...  236 

,,       Present  limits  of        ...  236 
0'il,  Langue  d',  in  the  Middle 

Ages 234 

„       Dialects  of       ...         ...  235 

„       Present  limits  of          ...  235 

Oscan,  An  Italic  tongue         ..,  224 

Ossetian,  An  Iranian  dialect...  207 

Pali,  Place  of  in  the  Prakrit 

tongues        ...         ...          ...  192 


PAGE 

Papxias,  Their  dialects  ...     66 

Parsi,    A     medieval    Iranian 
tongue  ...  ...         ...   205 

Pdzend,  Parsi,  Incorrectly  so- 
called  ...  ...  ...  205 

Pehlri,  or  Pahlavi,   See  Huz- 
vuresh  ...  ...  ...   203 

Persian,    The    widest    spread 
of    modern     Iranian 
tongues         ...  ...   206 

,,       Ancient  discovery  of...  200 
,,       Cuneiform  inscriptions  201 
Phanician,  A  member  of  the 

Canaanitic  group       ...   164 
„       Nearly  related  to  He- 
brew ...  ...  ...  165 

,,       Of  Africa,  or  Punic    ...   166 
Philology,   Distinct    from   lin- 
guistics ...  ...  1-3 

„       Its  true  province         ...       4 
Phrygian,  An  Aryan  idiom   ...   292 
„       Akin    to    the    Iranian 

tongues  ...  ...   292 

Physiology  and  philology  ...  19 
Plurals,  Broken  or  f ractas  . . .  168 
Polabish,   or    Slavonic   of    the 

Elbe 280 

Polish,  Limits  of         272 

,,       Its  grammar    ...  ...  273 

Polyglot,~Not  to  be  confounded 
with  philologist       ...  ...      11 

Polysynthesis,    How   differing 

from  incorporation  . . .   129 

Portuguese       ...         ...         ...  240 

Prakrit,  Its   relation  to  Sans- 
krit   192 

Provencal,  Langue  d'Oc  ...   236 

,,       Its  semi-analytic  period  236 
Prussian,  Old,  an  extinct  Lettic 

idiom  288 

Pul,  See  Fula. 

Punic,  Phoenician  of  Africa  ...    166 
Pace,  Not  always  convertible 
with  language         ...  ...  307 

Romaic,  or  modern  Greek      ...  212 

Romance,  or  Neo-Latin  idioms  227 

,,       Language,  Theory  of...  227 

Root,  Definition  of     ...  ...     32 

,,       In  the  isolating  idioms 

it  constitutes  the  word     32 
,,       How  modified  in  the  in- 
flecting tongues         ...  147 


INDEX. 


339 


Boot,   Semitic,    how    far    re- 
ducible   1-19 

Rumanian,   Its   place    in    the 

Xeo-Latiu  group       ...   240 
,,       Its  article,  phonology, 

&C 211 

wkschyor  Western, Ladin...  238 

Rusnialc,  or  Rutheniam  ...  272 

m,  Limits  of      ...  ...  270 

Its  grammar 271 

White,  dialect 271 

Ruthenian,  Limits  of..,  ...  272 

How     differing     from 
isian  ...         ...  272 

Saho,  Ethiopian  dialect  ...   180 

Samoyede  group  of  the  Uralo- 
Altai'c  tongues         ...  ...     89 

rlt,  First  essays  on       ...  189 
„       Place  in  the  Aiyan  sys- 
tem      189 

„       Grammar         ...  ...  191 

Alphabet  191 

.,       Literature        193 

.  Old       258 

Ian,  See  Norse. 
language,  mythical   ...   138 
,,       A      geographical      ex- 
pression ...  ...  138 

inflection        ...         ...  152 

Kadically  distinct  from 
Aryan...  ...  ...   148 

The  term  defective    ...  151 
,,       Eoots,  how  far  reducible  152 

.,      Noun 152 

7erb     153 

Alphabet  1  5  I 

i,  155 

.,      Primitive,  where  spoken  17) 

ll"v,  i-i ■! :,:,  d  i"  Bamitio  175 

fan    ...  276 

.,       Limit    i  i  ...         ...  276 

Dialects  of      277 

Literal  axe  of  ...         ...  278 

[mportance  of...         ...  278 

'  ■  ■■""""  of    ...         ...  278 

•  in";  idiom  ..      12 
l  lifneuli  to  classify    137 

ronp  ...         ...  268 

.,      Limit  i  (,f,  in   medieval 

268 

„      Alphabet         269 


Slavonic  Tongues,  now  spoken  270 
„       Classification  of         ...  283 
„       Church,  its   limits  and 

grammar        ...  ...  280 

Slovakian,  Akin  to  Tsech       ...  274 
Slovenian,       A      south    Slave 

tongue  279 

',  An  Ethiopian  dialect  180 
ian,  or  Lusatiam  ...  275 

Spanish,  Its  place  in  the  neo- 

Lat in  group   ...  ...   239 

„       Absorbing  the    Basque  111 
Species,    Permutation    of,    in 

philology      308 

Sub- Arctic  idioms       ...         ...   135 

Sumerian,  Meaning  of  ...  141 

Suonvi,  Its   importance   in  the 
Finnic  group  ...  ...     90 

Swedish,  Its  place  in  the  Xorse 

group  256 

Syntax,  Precedes  accidence  ...      33 
Syria?,  Its  place   in  the  Ara- 
mean  group...  ...  ...  155 

Syro -Arabic,  Synonymous  with 
Semitic         ...  ...  ...  151 

Ta-Masheq,  A   Libyan   dialer     179 
Tamil,  Importance  of  in  the 

Dravidian  family      ...     77 
„      Its  alphabet, &c.        ...     86 

Tatar,  or  Turkish  group        ...     <J9 
,,       Crimean  ...  ...  100 

Telugu,  A   Dravidian  idiom   ...      78 
TenseSjThe  two  of  the  common 

Semitic  tongue  ...   153 

„       The  eight  of  the  com- 
mon Aryan    ...  ...    187 

nic  group  ...         ...  252 

,,      Meaning  of  the  term  ..  252 

,,      Characteristics  of      ...  -'■:: 

„      Posil  ion  of  Gothic  in...  25 1 

.  An    isolating  ton   ae      18 

\i.in  to  Ohei    172 

'lone,    [mportance    of   in    the 

isolal  ing  idioms        . ..     34 
,,       In  Chinese       ...         ...     38 

,,       In  Assamese  ...         ...     12 

,,       In  Siamese     ...  ..     l^ 

In  Barman      ...         ...     I:: 

or  J  ",  Limit     of  -7  !■ 

.,       lis  or! bography  ...  274 

It b  grammar    ...         ...  'i~~, 

1'uhi,  A  Dravidian  idiom       ...     77 


310 


INDEX. 


Twngus  group  of  the   Uralo- 
Alta'ic  family  ..•         ..»  103 

Turanian,  A  meaningless  term  144 
„       Languages,  false  theory 

of        145 

Turkish  group  of  the   Uralo- 

Alta'ic  tongues  ...     99 

,,       Its  grammar    ...  ...   101 

TJmbrian,  An  Italic  language  224 

Uralo -Altaic    family,   its  five 

groups  ...         ...     88 

„       Their  differences        ...     88 
„       Their  common  features     89 
„       Their        incorporating 

system  ...         ...     89 

„       Their  vowel    harmony  106 

Verb,  Semitic  ...         ...         ...  153 

,,       Aryan  ...  ...  ...   186 

Wallon ,  A  dialect  of  the  Langue 
d'oil 235 

Welsh,  A  Kymric  tongue      . . .  245 

Wendic,  See  Sorbian. 

Writing,  Chinese  system  ...  38 
„  Annamitic  system  ...  42 
,,       Siamese  ,,  ...     42 


PAGE 

Writing,  Tibetan        „  ...     43 

„       Japanese  „  ...     73 

„       Malayo-Polynesian  ...     72 

„       Corean  „  ...     76 

Tamil    ...         „  ...     86 

„       Semitic  „  ...  154 

„       Assyrian  „  ...  158 

„       Arabic...         „  ...  167 

„       Himyaritic       „  ...   171 

„       Egyptian  „  ...  176 

,,       Devanagari      ,,  ...   191 

„       Zend     ...         „  ...  198 

„       Persian  „  ...  201 

„       Armenian         ,,  ...  203 

„       Huzvaresh       ,,  ...  205 

„       Italic    ...         „  ...  226 

„       Slavonic  „  ...  269 

Zaconic,     a     modern      Greek 
dialect  213 

Zend,  Discovery  of     „  ...  197 
„       An     Eastern      Iranian 

tongue  ...  ...  198 

„       Its  grammar   ...  ...  199 

„       Its  epoch,  &c-...  ...  199 


CHAELES   DICKBWS   AKO    BTANS,    CEY8IAI,   PALACE   PEESS. 


3  1205  02644  7043 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    000  814  207    7 


